Nasib Pluto

Bosan. Rase nak shoutout tapi tak ade space. Malas nak buat. Tak nak buat challenge. Tak ade mood. So, today nak share cerita pasal planet Pluto.

Dalam three months ago ade bace dalam one of Discovery mags *ye percayalah saya ade bace edu mags*, cerita pasal pelucutan jawatan Pluto as one of the planet in our solar system. Terkejut tak? Saya terkejut. Ini kerana astronomers found out that Pluto did not match with their planet definition;

a body that circles the sun without being some other object's satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has "cleared its neighborhood" of most other orbiting bodies. 

Pluto, on the other hand, shares orbital space with lots of other objects out in the Kuiper Belt. Apa itu Kuiper Belt?

A disk-shaped region in the outer solar system lying beyond the orbit of Neptune and extending to a distance of about 50 astronomical units, containing thousands of small icy bodies, some of which are on highly elliptical orbits, periodically visiting the inner solar system as comets (free dictionary.com). 

Ala 'batu-batu' yang kat luar neptune tula.. Kenapa Pluto boleh berkongsi orbit pula?

Tengok orbit Pluto.

Since orbit Pluto termasuk dalam Kuiper Belt, ade la object-object Kuiper Belt turut berkongsi dengan Pluto kan... So, syarat 'cleared neighborhood' gagal sama sekali. 'Big enough'? Ini pun gagal. Kerana astronomers berkata Pluto is way smaller to compare with the other 8 planets by which the smallest official planet, Mercury is more than twice as Pluto. (Pluto = 1,455 miles vs. Mercury = 3,032 miles). The discovery of other Pluto-like object, Eris has created a new category for Pluto; Dwarf Planet. They said its because of the size of course, the orbit much more elliptical and more inclined *as in the picture*, and their masses comprises of ices.


Namun, tak confirm lagi status Pluto since ramai yang mempersoalkan definisi PLANET itu sendiri. Terumbang-ambing ditengah-tengah. Apela nasib kau, Pluto..

Not an ice object neither a planet, huh?

What i do understand is the Milky Way is way too interesting, too unique, too complicated, way too amazing to be simplified in words. So, jangan lah kite sisihkan Pluto. haha