this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

it always kinda bugs me that people lose their minds over Pluto but can't name even one of the other four dwarf planets in our solar system

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is Phobos one? They call that a moon and it's nothing more than a pebble.

[–] SupraMario 4 points 1 year ago

That's no moon....

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Pluto and Charon are double planets. Change my mind.

[–] Animated_beans 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Pluto is smaller than Earth's moon. Should our moon be a planet too?

[–] Pegajace 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

No, because absolute size is not what makes a moon a moon. Our Moon is a moon because it directly orbits a planet, not a star. Charon is massive enough relative to Pluto that the former does not directly orbit the latter, but instead they both orbit a common barycenter located between them, making them a binary planetary system.

[–] Frozengyro 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean the earth and moon do the same thing, just on a much smaller scale.

[–] Pegajace 1 points 1 year ago

Not quite. All two-body systems orbit a common barycenter, but the mass ratio of the Earth-Moon system is so lopsided that the barycenter is inside the Earth, not between them like with Pluto and Charon.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Does our moon independently orbit the sun?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The barycenter between earth and the moon is within the earths crust. The barycenter between charon and pluto is outside of plutos surface. For those who dont understand, this means that the center of gravity between the earth and moon is INSIDE the earth. So the moon orbits a point within the earth. Not so with the charon pluto system. Both worlds orbit a point in space.

If the moon was to have its own orbital path around the sun, then sure. It would be a planet imo. It's rounded by its own gravity... and it would orbit the sun.

But I guess if we want to the meat of the subject about what defines a planet in the most basic sense, it would be things that make Earth a planet, since we pretty much all agree Earth is a planet. So.. rounded... Orbits the sun... What else would you say describes the Earth?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Gaia and Selene are double planets. Change my mind.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I've never stopped believing in you, Pluto ❤️

[–] Downcount 7 points 1 year ago

Nothing compared to the bruises on Uranus.

[–] stankmut 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] pigup 5 points 1 year ago