Pluto loses status as a planet

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5282440.stm

The BBC article says "The vote effectively means the ninth planet will
now be airbrushed out of school and university textbooks." I disagree.
Pluto is still an outstanding example of a KBO. More is known about
Pluto than any other KBO, because of studies of it's interaction with
Charon. And, in 2015, we'll get the first good images of a KBO.
2003UB313 is larger, but also three times as far away.

Basically, the picture stays the same, but the caption changes from
"Pluto" to "Kuiper Belt" or "Plutonian Objects." Much better than
adding Ceres and Charon.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Pluto-Charon Origin May Mirror that of Earth and Its Moon
    ... Pluto and its lone moon Charon may have something in common ... with Earth and our single Moon: a giant impact in the distant past. ... While the Moon has only about 1 percent of the mass of Earth, Charon ... Canup's simulations suggest that a proportionally much larger impactor ...
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  • Re: Discovery of PLuto ...
    ... I can calculate the exact angular distance between P and ... telescope owing to the faintness of Pluto. ... Charon is more than two magnitudes fainter than Pluto. ... and dismissed as a flaw or background star. ...
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  • Re: Discovery of PLuto ...
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    (sci.astro)
  • Re: Discovery of PLuto ...
    ... Do you remember the exact time of GK observations, ... no observations of PLuto (for sure no Charon:) with 2.5 meter Mt. ... and dismissed as a flaw or background star. ...
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  • Re: Discovery of PLuto ...
    ... the sattelite of PLuto Charon remained not discovered for ... ... and dismissed as a flaw or background star. ... It was only when Christy used a relatively large telescope to ...
    (sci.astro)
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