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Forbidden planet: was Pluto’s 2006 demotion a big mistake? (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/space@mander.xyz
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[–] 50 points 1 month ago (14 children)

Either we now have to learn like 21 planets in elementary school (hard) or Pluto gets a technical demotion (easy).

Pluto is still a planet in all our hearts, this is just humanities constant march of trying to become more and more accurate and precise with time

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  • [–] 14 points 1 month ago (9 children)

    Teaching the dwarf planets could be fun, though. What about thebfact that Pluto and Charon orbit one another, and how you could build a space elevator directly from.the surface of one to.the other?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (8 children)

    wait what? how would that be possible

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago* (5 children)

    Space is really huge and it might be possible that the theoretical space elevator would never strike another celestial body.

    This is 100% speculative and I have absolutely not done any fact checking other than the fact that space is indeed, really Big McLargeHuge.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    searches

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking

    However, if both the difference in mass between the two bodies and the distance between them are relatively small, each may be tidally locked to the other; this is the case for Pluto and Charon

    They're apparently tidally-locked, so that's one issue out of the way.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)

    Periapsis: 19 592.61 km

    Apoapsis: 19 598.92 km

    Eccentricity: 0.000161[10]

    So it's pretty close to a circular orbit.

    Orbital period: (6 d, 9 h, 17 m)

    But it'd still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    But it’d still have to change length by about 6 km every 3 Earth days.

    Maybe this is crazy, but make it a giant jumprope. When they're closer together, the jumprope makes a tighter circle and spins faster. When they're further apart, the jumprope makes a larger circle. Put a weight in the middle so it has enough centripetal force to keep the rope taut.

    Trust me, it works, I thought about it for two minutes.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago*

    If humanity ever were to have the means to build a 12.2k mile or 19.7k km elevator in space between two planets at the far reach of the solar system, I would assume that we would also be capable of somehow making it longer

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Pluto and Charon are mutually tidally locked, so they don't rotate in relation to each other.

    Plus, in smaller bodies you don't need impossibly strong materials to make a space elevator like you'd need for Earth. Hell, Kevlar fiber is strong enough to make a space elevator from the Moon to one of the Lunar Lagrange points due to the reduced gravity

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Pluto is still a planet in all our hearts

    My heart pumps blood. My brain does the thinking. Pluto is not a planet. So what? It's still fascinating.

    Pluto and Charon are tidally locked, meaning they always face each other as they orbit around. Romanticizing a bit, they are like dancers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU5pQWQRxak

    I'm your moon, you're my moon,

    We go round and round.

    From out here, it's the rest of the world that looks so small.

    Promise me you will always remember who you are.

    Labels can be helpful for categorizing, organizing our knowledge. Labels do not define us. We're all space stuff.

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