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Last Post 10/26/2017 1:44 PM by  Terry Kucera
Pluto
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craig h





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10/26/2017 7:52 AM
    Hi, Since New Horizon's flyby of Pluto, and what scientists have learned, do any of you feel that Pluto should be re-classfied back as a planet or left the way it is?

    Terry Kucera



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    10/26/2017 1:44 PM
    Hi Craig,
    New Horizons has basically changed our understanding of Pluto from being a blurry dot to being real world with all sorts of interesting features and related history.
    You've probably seen the pictures already, and there are descriptions of some of the discoveries here:
    https://www.nasa.gov/miss...zons/main/index.html

    I, personally, am ok with the description "dwarf plant", acknowledging that there is a separate and large classes of objects in the solar system that are smaller than the major planets and are mostly found in groups like the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. I'm looking forward to learning more about them, including results from New Horizon's upcoming visit to another Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69.

    From another point of view Pluto could be classed with not just the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) but also with the larger moons of the solar system. Their surfaces all show evidences of all sorts of interesting "geological" processes that have occurred over time and comparing them makes sense.

    cheers,
    Terry


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