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FamiGami t1_j3jww95 wrote

Pretty sure you learned that in grade school like the rest of us

−12

ThymeIsTight t1_j3jwxhs wrote

I guess humans wouldn't be celebrating birthdays on Pluto.

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Remy4409 t1_j3jx0rj wrote

And nobody alive today will be there when it does, crazy.

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farmerarmor t1_j3jxq9x wrote

It was only a planet for 1/4 of one of its own years.

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GeneralTittyFucker t1_j3jz8rc wrote

I want to fuck Pluto.

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize this was about the planet

−8

irbinator OP t1_j3k0kmx wrote

Replying to farmerarmor (#1,312,842)

Right now I'm reading Dr. Mike Brown's book How I Killed Pluto And Why It Had It Coming. Only a couple of pages in, but so far it's been an interesting read.

Basically, he had discovered a new possible planet (Eris, aka Xena), and his discovery led scientists to finally formally define a planet for the first time. The new definition re-categorized Pluto and Eris as dwarf planets. Humbly, Dr. Brown was satisfied with that conclusion.

The book is what led me down this rabbit hole!

EDIT: Eris, not Ceres.

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AFineDayForScience t1_j3k141p wrote

This made me curious about the orbital speed of each planet.

Mercury: 47.87 km/s (107,082 miles per hour), or a period of about 87.97 days

Venus: 35.02 km/s (78,337 miles per hour), or a period of about 224.7 days

Earth: 29.78 km/s (66,615 miles per hour), or a period of about 365.256365 days

Mars: 24.077 km/s (53,853 miles per hour), or a period of about 686.93 days

Jupiter: 13.07 km/s (29,236 miles per hour), or a period of about 11.86 years

Saturn: 9.69 km/s (21,675 miles per hour), or a period of about 29.42 years

Uranus: 6.81 km/s (15,233 miles per hour), or a period of about 83.75 years

Neptune: 5.43 km/s (12,146 miles per hour), or a period of about 163.72 years

Pluto: 4.74 km/s (10,603 miles per hour), or a period of about 247.92 years

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dblan9 t1_j3k1c6b wrote

You heard about Pluto right?

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10secondmessage t1_j3k3yx3 wrote

Replying to irbinator (#1,313,091)

Sorry, I think it was Greeks they did math and found grational forces outside of expectations, according to their limited data. They knew something else orbited out there just obviously couldn't prove it with telescopes. Which was the transfered to Pluto in Roman mythologies. If greeks/Roman's named planets how was Pluto named after this object?

−20

wwarnout t1_j3k48mp wrote

As I recall, Neptune has barely finished one orbit since its discovery.

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8020secret t1_j3k6j14 wrote

Still a planet while passing over state of New Mexico 👽

By law

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that, as Pluto passes overhead through New Mexico's excellent night skies, it be declared a planet

https://www.nmlegis.gov/sessions/.../HJM054.html

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Arch3m t1_j3kc3xa wrote

Ah, yes, the real reason Pluto isn't a planet. Gotta make one rotation before it gets the upgrade, y'know, just to prove that it can.

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GetsGold t1_j3kc4mu wrote

Replying to irbinator (#1,312,983)

He discovered Eris, which was more massive than Pluto.

Ceres was a planet that was discovered between Earth and Mars and Jupiter in 1801. Around 50 years later after several more planets were discovered in that region they started referring to them as asteroids instead.

That's similar to what happened with Pluto. At first it seemed unique in its part of the Solar System, but by the 90's we started discovering many other objects in that region, another belt. So with Eris they decided to treat it like the asteroid belt and stop calling its members planets.

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GetsGold t1_j3kcg0m wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,148)

They didn't have math at that level. You're describing how Neptune was discovered, but that was in the 1800s. It was found due to irregularities in the path of Uranus that would be explained by another planet.

Further discrepancies led to searching for another planet, and that led to finding Pluto. However Pluto was later found to be too small to explain them.

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newtownkid t1_j3kcyy1 wrote

Technically Pluto's orbit takes one year.

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10secondmessage t1_j3kds0k wrote

Replying to GetsGold (#1,313,550)

They used math well not as good as what we had. There are many asteroids that went of course due to what we now call Neptune and Pluto as the gravity it caused movements inconsistent with its path. Since they corectly guessed objects had no mass and traveled straight short of external forces such as gravity or transition of energy such as object acting to them selfs. This led to them thinking there were more plants based on this but could prove more than a gravitional force more likely planet based on planet behaviors they could observe. Like I said they knew about it but could say 100 what it was.

−15

GetsGold t1_j3kdztv wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,624)

They didn't even know about Neptune and almost certainly didn't know about Uranus even though it was technically just barely visible. They weren't making gravitational predictions about Pluto thousands of years ago when we couldn't even do that ourselves a hundred years ago.

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10secondmessage t1_j3kfn4s wrote

Replying to GetsGold (#1,313,639)

Like I said, they couldn't prove they were but estimated planets of other data. they had tools that would help them find objects such as Mars or a comet around Mars, etc. When in certain areas, there tools would be slightly off due to gravitational fields of large masses out beyond visible range. Well, the math was basic it proved there was what essentially was discovered. I'm not saying they had the tech or power that was used to conferm them like others later, only that in certain areas, masses existed and likely to be planets.

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GetsGold t1_j3kgeoa wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,708)

They did not predict the existence of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto thousands of years ago based on gravity. We couldn't even predict Pluto with modern equipment and math. You need some sources on this.

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10secondmessage t1_j3kizk7 wrote

Replying to GetsGold (#1,313,735)

Yes, they did when a commit is tracked for say a long time and their machine. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_Mechanism

Was off on predicting a comets path, which means they knew some new or force was being but on it. Considering greeks and Roman's had many scientist back then tracking things with similar results they estimate more planets or forces out there affecting a comets path, especially since the mass moved in the sky as disruptions were tracked as planets moved in their orbit.

This theory was still theory, but they knew more forces were out there. Because well not perfect as ours they had working orbit and trackable system. They were able to track and predict comets' paths with it when something moved a commit and no planet was around to have force on is how they realized other wandering masses must be out there. They knew there had to be other things affecting that they could observe things like this. So the theories were write just not provable. At there level of ablities.

−4

GetsGold t1_j3kjx66 wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,833)

So you're saying that they estimated comet paths but were off and so hypothesized the existence of other bodies or forces? Is there a quote in the article about that?

That's interesting, but not the same as predicting specific planets, and especially Pluto. Pluto is less than a fifth the mass of our moon and orbiting 30+ times the distance from the Sun as us. They wouldn't have close to the precise data to estimate that.

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Seraph062 t1_j3kn3ic wrote

Replying to quarter-water (#1,313,255)

> a day (one complete rotation) is 175 Earth days lol

A day isn't really a complete rotation.
A complete sidereal rotation (i.e. the time it takes to complete a single 360 degree rotation) on Mercury is about 59 Earth days.
However 'a day' is generally measured with respect to the parent star, and since Mercury is moving around the sun that represents a moving target, and it takes 175 Earth days for the sun complete one cycle in the sky (e.g. local noon -> local noon).

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Delamoor t1_j3koq6w wrote

Replying to Numerous-Afternoon89 (#1,312,827)

I also think it would be interesting to speculate on how sentient life would manage time on a tidally locked planet.

Without the sun rising and falling, there sure wouldn't be any circadian rhythms. Would there even be sleep? We aren't even entirely sure why it evolved here, so on a planet that never even experienced the sun's movement... Could be quite interesting.

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z7q2 t1_j3kttcq wrote

The best part is, Pluto doesn't care. Call it a planet, don't call it a planet. It was out there orbiting before us, and it will be there when we're gone.

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Cut-OutWitch t1_j3ku8ff wrote

> Pluto was discovered in 1930.

By the great-uncle of Clayton Kershaw! Woooooooo!

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ReallyBadNuggets t1_j3kuybf wrote

TIL Pluto was discovered in 1930.

So it wasn't even considered a planet for all that long to begin with.

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AndrewTyeFighter t1_j3kwsxp wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,833)

They didn't even know how gravity worked back then and were just starting to consider that the Earth might not be the center of the universe.

They were not predicting planets that they couldnt see or comets paths based on gravity when they didnt even have the formulas and constants required to do such things.

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5050Clown t1_j3kxxll wrote

ME: Hey Pluto. How many Pluto years have you been a planet now?

​

Pluto: Fuck you.

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10secondmessage t1_j3kyr1q wrote

Replying to AndrewTyeFighter (#1,314,340)

Yes, they did otherwise. How would they have made the first model of solar system it was wrong because gravity wasn't factored into it when the second model came out it traced orbits based on the concept of gravity, well the calculations were not hundred percent it still was close enough when you applied it in small numbers to find location of said item. Considering there limited tech and understanding it's amazing how well they did.

Second Ancient thinkers, from Aristotle in the West to Brahmagupta in the East, had theorised that objects were attracted to each other. Which is partially right as Newton would add direction(towards the centre) and give it mathemical representation/ gravitational force direction which change how the angle of force. Even though they math was off, they still had gravational force as a force of attraction espressesed as the orbital pathes of planets. The method was not perfect as it only counted gravational force, but that still put into their measurements and comparison.

−4

2giga2dweebish t1_j3kywyu wrote

Replying to Delamoor (#1,314,053)

>We aren't even entirely sure why it evolved here,

Baseless speculation but if sleep is a time for recuperation, could it just be that complex organisms need downtime to process energy, slow down for a while, etc.?

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Due-Reading6335 t1_j3l0qm2 wrote

fun vague fact: some planets were theorized to exist and have only been recently confirmed. I've heard there's a 10th celestial body orbiting our sun, further than Pluto, that has not been spotted yet.

−5

AndrewTyeFighter t1_j3l42ut wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,314,390)

Don't need to understand gravity to make a model of the observable solar system. Yet just because you make a model that is consistent with your observations, doesn't mean your model is correct.

The Antikythera Mechanism didn't model wasn't accurate because their understanding of the planetary model was incorrect. It also did not compute comets at all.

Aristotle thought that comets were atmospheric in nature, not bodies orbiting around the solar system, and on gravity he thought that everything was attracted to the Earth because it was the center of the universe, as well as that heavier objects would fall faster. These are not the basis for calculating the positions of undiscovered planets or gravitational disturbances of orbits of comets.

Your statements here are so wildly contradictory to history that I can only assume you are mistaken. If you really do feel you are correct, then please find some sources they actually back up your claims.

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Dolly_gale t1_j3l69nl wrote

Replying to alexmikli (#1,313,045)

I attended a "planet walk" hosted by the astronomy department of a state university. It was about a mile long. Participants start at the sun and as they walk along there is a little model and informational placard about each planet. When I got to Neptune, I got a little sad and kept walking. Turned out that they included a model of Pluto. When I returned to the beginning, I mentioned to one of the host students how delighted I was to see it. I asked why it was included despite the fact it wasn't a planet anymore.

"It's still there," she answered.

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Civil_Speed_8234 t1_j3l8fbt wrote

Replying to 10secondmessage (#1,313,148)

Planets up to Saturn were known to the ancient Greeks, but Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were named after the invention of the telescope (with the first one in 1781), and they just continued the naming convention in the same way. All the moons, dwarf planets, planetoids and other things in our solar system were named for Roman myths as well, but most of them weren't known until much more recently

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Dark_Vulture83 t1_j3lkf66 wrote

I find it funny that it was discovered, and then de-listed as a planet without completing a single orbit.

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yusuo85 t1_j3lpz5j wrote

I read somewhere not long ago that pluto hasn't even completed a full rotation since America was founded, guess that's kind of still true.

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noronto t1_j3ls2cy wrote

I wish there was context to these TIL. This one in particular gets reposted all the time. I don’t understand the rabbit hole somebody finds themselves in to learn about this grade school level fact.

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chairfairy t1_j3lslh1 wrote

Replying to Bsmith0799 (#1,315,383)

Harder to guess because Alaskans still have circadian rhythms - that's a basic biological function built into your brain, that a lot of life on earth evolved with. (I assume circadian rhythm predates humans, because other animals have it, too.)

In a tidally locked world, there would be no circadian rhythm, at least not one driven by the day/night light cycle. I mean yeah they'd probably still need to sleep but the underlying biological mechanisms would be completely different

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ripper_14 t1_j3lsmv0 wrote

Can’t wait til Planet X shows itself too!

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fishbulbx t1_j3lsn9x wrote

Replying to ThymeIsTight (#1,312,802)

You'd just invent or repurpose a cyclical event to use for celebrations. It isn't like weeks are based on any real natural event. Humans just needed a recurring time segment of about 7 days.

1

noronto t1_j3ltmuu wrote

Replying to Sunshineinanchorage (#1,315,664)

That’s fair, but I’d still be curious how many of these TIL are discovered. For instance, I was looking up “your anus” but it got autocorrected to Uranus, which started me reading random facts about planets and stuff.

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Sunshineinanchorage t1_j3lurpl wrote

Replying to noronto (#1,315,692)

🤣🤣 I love a good joke this early in the morning. Especially when it is older than I am. Of course I am not sure why you are interested in my anus in particular nor am I not sure why you seem to struggle with a basic google search. Try again.🤣🤣

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Hikaru755 t1_j3lx1iy wrote

Replying to Bsmith0799 (#1,315,383)

People haven't evolved sleep in Alaska, though. Sleep evolved waaaaayyy before humans even existed, let alone started living that close to the poles. And we've not been around for long enough for evolution to change anything about something so deeply integrated into the way our biology works as sleep.

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waytosoon t1_j3lx60t wrote

Replying to 2giga2dweebish (#1,314,396)

This is my assumption. I think we would have to have some sort of resting time. It's interesting to look at how certain organisms have adapted to the regions of the world where there is not night/day cycle for extended periods. Cannabis Sativa, for instance, requires longer nights of about 12 hours in order for the plant to begin flowering. However, Cannabis Ruderalis, which was originally discovered in siberia, automatically flowers after around 30 days because as you can imagine, there is no break in light in the region for many months.

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Big_Deetz t1_j3m87ou wrote

Another fun fact, everyone reading this thread right now will almost certainly be dead before it does make its full orbit in 2172.

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noronto t1_j3mavqx wrote

Replying to Sunshineinanchorage (#1,315,764)

I am not interested in “your anus”, nor am I confused with the google machine. I am interested in the context in which the peoples are learning these random facts. TIL that gorillas are in a semi permanent state of flatulence. That’s a random fact. Why and how did you come to obtain this knowledge? That is what is interesting.

Clearly I am interested in butts and stuff. So that’s why I know a lot about them.

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sexysouthernaccent t1_j3mel21 wrote

A fun fact to bring up to people that insist the alignment of planets at the time of their birth means something

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astroteacher t1_j3mhtno wrote

Pluto was closer to the sun than Neptune from about 1980-2000. Probably why it’s moon wasn’t discovered until about 1978.

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p-d-ball t1_j3nb39n wrote

That means Pluto has no orbit! It's never been fully observed and it never will be. Ha!

​

/s, of course. Making fun of creationists, etc.

0

Big_Deetz t1_j3npjaf wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,318,713)

Life extending technology? Cryosleep? Maybe some billionaire teen authoritarian prince who'll have their organs swapped out when they get old is reading this?

I unno man, that's a long time for science.

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Who_DaFuc_Asked t1_j3o29rs wrote

Replying to Big_Deetz (#1,316,440)

The NASA mission I'm most hyped for is Dragonfly. Planned 2027 launch to Saturn's moon Titan (will arrive in the early or mid 2030's, I'll be like 37 or 38 years old by then and I'm 26 now).

It's a helicopter drone that'll fly around on Titan.

After that, I think in the 2030's or 2040's they're planning on sending a lander to Venus that'll take pictures of it's surface as it's falling through the atmosphere. It's like a big metal orb looking thing

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FredVIII-DFH t1_j3oq85a wrote

So... we don't actually KNOW that it orbits the sun.

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AUWarEagle82 t1_j3oy5ai wrote

TIL: Pluto's orbit is measured in "Mickeys" and each "Mickey" is 1/248th of a full orbit.

1

All_cheeki_n0_breeki t1_j3pccdf wrote

Various mezoamerican cultures like the aztecs and the mayans, were very aware of Pluto.

I guess you could said it hasn't completed an obbrit since eurocentric cultures discovered it.

1

Delamoor t1_j3ud8i8 wrote

Replying to curiousmind111 (#1,327,375)

Long answer that I'll try to make short, but basically... Because tidal forces.

The tide on earth comes from the spinning, and the gravity from the moon interacting with the earth's spin. The ocean's water sloshes about relatively easily, but the tidal forces (the gravity) is actually affecting everything, all the crust and mantle. The entire planet actually flexes a tiny, tiny bit with each spin.

That flexing carries a cost; energy has to come from somewhere and it has to go somewhere. So the flexing turns into thermal energy; heat. Only very slight on earth, but still there.

Jupiter's moon Io is a giant pile of volcanoes because of this effect. It's super close to Jupiter and still spins pretty quickly and so flexes a huge amount, generates a lot of heat, so lots of magma flying about.

But that heat radiates into space slowly. Which over billions of years means the spinning planet loses energy. Which means it spins slower and slower.

Eventually it stops spinning and will always have the same face pointing towards the bigger object. Just like our moon does now. Eventually, far far in the future, the earth will also stop spinning (because of the tidal forces) and one side will always face the moon. That's why we believe the days were much shorter when the planet was still newly formed; it spun faster, but has lost roughly half it's spinning speed over the last 4.5 billion years. Because of the moon.

That has happened with a lot of moons in the solar system (because moons are small and don't have store much energy) and it can happen with planets too. Usually, the closer the little thing is to the big thing (e.g. moon near planet, or planet near star) the faster the energy comes out of it, the sooner it stops spinning.

And the thing that causes that to happen... Tidal forces. Same forces that create the tides on Earth. Thus; locked into place by tidal forces; tidally locked.

We're just fortunate that we have the oceans which slosh about so easily and obviously, otherwise it would have taken us a lot longer to figure it out.

1

curiousmind111 t1_j3vd1my wrote

Replying to Delamoor (#1,330,386)

Interesting.

But what if we had no moon, and we didn’t spin - from the start. We just always had the same side facing the sun. That would have nothing to do with moons or tides. That’s why I was surprised to hear “tidal” in the comment. But. Googled and that’s what they call it.

Even stranger when there’s no water on the planet.

1

Delamoor t1_j3vswa0 wrote

Replying to curiousmind111 (#1,331,479)

Interestingly, that wouldn't be physically possible.

The process of accretion in zero gee creates angular momentum by its nature: stuff slams into other stuff and that kinetic energy has to go somewhere, and it can't go any further towards or back away from the centre of gravity... so it goes sideways and turns into a spin.

That's why neutron stars generally rotate near the speed of light; all that matter came inwards with the force of a supernova, so supercharged the spin. Also why black holes spin and accretion disk form. You basically can't have a body of matter coalesce in space without it starting to spin at least a bit. Well, unless you're physically there to carefully place the matter bit by bit with near zero kinetic force, anyway.

If we had no moon then there would be no signficant drag (though there would still be a tiny, tiny, tiny bit from the sun and other bodies in the solar system, but barely noticeable even in astronomical timescales), and we would for all intent and purposes basically never stop or slow our spinning.

1

goodlittlesquid t1_j3ztgx6 wrote

Replying to Civil_Speed_8234 (#1,314,751)

Many of the more recently discovered dwarf planets are named after deities from other cultures. Haumea is Hawaiian, Makemake is Rapa Nui, Sedna is Inuit, Gonggong is Chinese. The moons of Uranus are named after English literary characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

1