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Thursday, September 20, 2018

Phil Metzger interview on Pluto's planet status


https://amp.clickorlando.com/news/space-news/does-it-matter-if-pluto-is-a-planet-or-not?__twitter_impression=true

Please note there are two errors in the article below the interview video. The writer states that Eris was discovered by Mike Brown, when it was actually discovered by a group of three planetary astronomers--Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. Interestingly, both Trujillo and Rabinowitz reject the IAU planet definition.

Additionally, the writer reports that Eris is larger than Pluto. This is not the case. Eris was initially thought to be larger than Pluto but in 2010, a team of scientists led by Bruno Sicardy measured Eris's size when it occulted a star and found it to be marginally smaller than Pluto though 27 percent more massive. Being more massive, it is likely more rocky and therefore more planet-like.

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