I've never understood this obsession. Odds are you've never heard of Ceres, but it was once called a planet. It's now considered a dwarf planet, like Pluto. Pluto is also less massive than Eris, so if you include Pluto you should also include Eris. None of these have cleared their orbit though.

I understand it's frequently just a joke, but it's always rubbed me weird because some people actually became science skeptics because "suddenly Pluto isn't a planet" or whatever. Really the reason is because the list would get really long if we included everything.

[–] Igloojoe@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago

Ceres and Eris weren't talked about at all when i was in school. They were like a family relative that nobody talks about.

I understand the reason behind the change, its just fun to say that earth kicked them out of the league of planets.

"You heard about Pluto? Messed up, huh?"

[–] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Since you seem to be knowledgeable and I'd like to continue discussion, do you think there are "earth like" dwarf planets that could support life?

[–] PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Probably not. At least not earth like. Planets have to be sufficiently large to maintain an atmosphere.

It may be possible for one like an ice moon to harbor life, but it needs something to generate heat and prevent the ocean from freezing solid.

I suppose there could also be a situation where the planet is sufficiently large to retain an atmosphere, but somehow hasn't cleared it's orbit.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 months ago

Earth like? No. They're too small to hold any reasonable atmosphere. That doesn't rule out life, but it's unlikely. They're also likely too small to have subsurface oceans or things like that without being tied to a planet and having strong tidal forces squishing it, in which case it'd be a moon not a dwarf planet.