Re: About Pluto Demotion

In article <1156597045.468438.118710@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
CNJ999 <jbortle@xxxxxxx> wrote:
.....................
Anyone who reads the actual period literature will immediately
recognize that many astronomers were creating unrealistic senarios
right from the beginning in an attempt to justify Pluto's
classification as a classical planet. Initially it was guessed to be as
large or larger than Earth but with a very low albedo. When I was a
young man and the 200-inch still showed it as all but star-like, it was
suggested to still be at least 4,000 miles in diameter but completely
covered with a smooth icy surface that produced only a weak specular
reflection. I recall many similar theories made in vain attempts down
through the years to keep Pluto of planetary stature...until it finally
became clear that Pluto was in truth nothing but a tiny object with a
large binary companion and all but identical with the other KBO's that
were then being discovered at the time.

Charon was discovered in 1978. 14 years later the first KBO (besides
Pluto) was discovered -- and it took some additiona years before we
actually knew that there are many KBO's out there.

Thus, for some 14-16 years, we knew the true size of Pluto (because of
Charon's discovery), but we didn't yet know that there are many KBO's
out there - the Kuiper Belt was then still a hypothesis.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://stjarnhimlen.se/
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