Starting August 24, 2006, Pluto is not a planet called again. Because ever since that day, Pluto was decided no longer entitled to the title as the planet. General Assembly of the International Astronomical Association (International Astronomical Union) Top-26 in Prague, Czech Republic, produces historic decision in astronomy to remove Pluto from the list of planets in the Solar System. Since that time also, a member of the Solar System consists of only eight planets, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Pluto issued a decision that has become a member of the Family Planet Solar System for 76 years is a consequence of the adoption of new definitions of planets. General Assembly of the IAU Resolution 5A-26 contain the new definition.
In that resolution stated, an object can be called a planet if it meets three conditions:
- Orbiting the Sun
- Large enough so as to maintain a spherical shape
- Having a clear orbital path and the ‘clean’ (no other celestial bodies in orbit it)
The definition is the first universal definition of the planet since the term planet known among astronomers, even before the era of Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 proved that Earth is one planet that rotates around the Sun. With the new definition, Pluto is not entitled to the name of the planet because it does not satisfy the third requirement. Pluto’s orbit cuts the orbit of Neptune making its way around the Sun, Pluto is sometimes closer to the sun than Neptune.
Dwarf Planets
According to Director of Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Java, Dr. Taufiq Hidayat, IAU General Assembly’s decision is the culmination of scientific debate in astronomy that has been going on since the early 1990s and then. The debate was triggered many new inventions that give rise to doubts as to whether Pluto is a planet or not worth mentioning. ‘The characteristics of Pluto is different from other planets. In fact, its chemical composition is more like a comet than a planet. ” said astronomer who studied sciences planet.In addition, the development of telescope technology also leads to discovery of various celestial bodies that fall into the Kuiper Belt Object (Kuiper Belt Object / KBO). Kuiper Belt itself is the name for the region outside the orbit of Neptune to a distance of 50 Astronomical Units (SA / 1 Astronomical Unit = distance of the average Sun-Earth, which is about 149.6 million kilometers) from the Sun. Some of the KBO (Kuiper Black Object) is very interesting because roughly the same size or even larger than Pluto (2,300 km diameter) and some have satellite or ‘moon’. Some of these objects, among other things, Quaoar (diameter 1,000 km, 1,300 km), Sedna (1180 km-1800 km), and the most famous is the object called 2003 UB313 found Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2003 and then .Object, nicknamed Xena has a diameter of 2,400 km, which means larger than Pluto Xena was shocked as the 10th planet of the Solar System. Since then, continued Taufiq, there is a difference of opinion among astronomers. ‘The choice is to enter Ceres, Charon and 2003 UB313 into the family of the planet so that the number of planets to 12, or removing Pluto. Finally, the second option is agreed upon, ‘said the former Chairman of the Department of Astronomy Institute of Technology Bandung.
The deal itself is not coming easily. Taufiq said the decision was even achieved by way of a vote among the members of the IAU in attendance after a very heated debate preceded.
Four senior astronomer from Indonesia participated in the IAU General Assembly, namely Jorga Ibrahim, Iratius Radiman, Suryadi Siregar, and Mrs. Permana Permadi.
Some predict the debate over Pluto’s status will not end here. Alan Stern, head of NASA’s space shuttle mission, New Horizon, which was launched to Pluto, last January, claiming to feel ‘ashamed’ of the decision. Nevertheless, the mission worth 700 million U.S. dollars and would not arrive at Pluto in 2015 it will still continue. ‘This is really a definition of reckless.’
from: Kompas
Bye bye Planet Pluto :’)
I am Sam 