Comets continually go around the sun. Are they planets? There are other things than planets and moons in here. Pluto is the king of dwarf planets, but it's still smaller than our moon. Hell, it's smaller than Russia itself.
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course comets aren't planets, not talking about those.
aug 6, 2025, 6:11 pm • 1 0 • view
Pluto is VERY MUCH closer to being a comet than a planet. Sorry to break it to you. Most of its weight is ice. :(
aug 6, 2025, 10:03 pm • 3 0 • view
does it have a core though? i don't think composition means much and it has a spherical shape that satisfies one of the criteria of planethood.
aug 6, 2025, 10:05 pm • 0 0 • view
It is spherical ✅, but: -Hasn't cleaned its orbit, as it crosses Neptune's. ❌ -Doesn't really have a moon, but rather it goes around a center of mass OUTSIDE Pluto with Charon. So they both go around in an harmonic dance. It's technically a dual planetary system. ❌ -It sometimes grows a tail. 💀❌❌❌
aug 6, 2025, 10:57 pm • 2 0 • view
Also mind that Eris, a further dwarf planet in the scattered disc, is more massive (but slightly smaller), spherical, has a moon and is very much a better candidate if we included it in the planet list. However, its orbit is not cleared as well. So not planets: kings of the asteroids.
aug 6, 2025, 11:02 pm • 1 0 • view
Neptune, Jupiter, even Earth haven't cleared their orbits either. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearin...
aug 7, 2025, 12:31 am • 0 0 • view
Trojans in Jupiter are considered part of a clear orbit, because they follow Jupiter in lagrange points. Its stupid to compare that situation to Pluto's, whose orbit is inside the Kuiper belt. As both orbits are *not* the same, we can compare individually Neptune's and Pluto's orbits... +
aug 7, 2025, 8:42 am • 0 0 • view
And Neptune's is basically empty (>99% of the mass is in the planet), while Pluto is basically another round big ball of ice, basically. For further discussion, you can check on the internet where there is basically endless info.
aug 7, 2025, 8:44 am • 0 0 • view