How Many Planets There ACTUALLY Are

Everyone remembers the day Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a "dwarf planet." But what was the real motive behind this decision, and what else might the IAU been trying to hide?

[cyan]

The three second pause after introducing Uranus is the equivalent of a laugh track

[joe-cghv]

Humans really love to sort stuffs in boxes. It helps us a lot, but nature really loves to tell us that it couldnt care less about our boxes.

[RamblinPhoenix]

I think we all sleep on the fact Ceres got an upgrade from "Asteroid" to "Dwarf Planet."

And it is visible in a 4 inch telescope, which was preaty cool, when I found it one night. It resolved as a neat little circle in the eyepiece.

(Neptune and Uranus generally resolve as little blue pinprick dots if you find them- and really need a bit of a bigger telescope)

[edgaraldana]

Wait, Ceres has 33% of the mass on the asteroid belt? That's amazing.

[Arranus]

Haumea is the most criminally underrated object in the entire solar system

[nicholas]

"Planetoid" is the only fitting name, because they are tiny planets; I think that is the name I was taught in Astronomy in college (I was taught it somewhere), and now I know why. We have two very different kinds of planets, and so there is nothing wrong with two very different kinds of planetoids.

[adamirshaid]

Dude, I really have to say that you're an exceptional YouTuber. The effort you put into your videos has gone to the point where you have taken some of the first steps to properly visualize and render what has previously been abstract and distant into something tangible and clear. You painstakingly rendered like over 20 celestial objects, many of which have never been rendered to the level of detail you've done here. I've been with you on Atlas Pro since before 100k and I'm so excited to see what you do on this channel.

[matthewwheatley]

Calling them Plutoids instead of Icesteroids is one of the biggest misses in astronomical history.

[VoidHalo]

I've always wanted to see a near complete model of the solar system. With features like the kuiper belt, the oort cloud, hills cloud, all of the planetoids, all of jupiter's moons, the trans-neptunian objects like Sedna and Haumea, to name a couple, the asteroid belt and the significantly sized asteroids that we've named. Plus the usual details like planets etc.

[XBrain]

A couple of corrections:
9:14 Piazzi did not join the search, his find of Ceres was actually a huge concidence!
31:03 there has never actually been an anomaly in Neptune's orbit, we have long found out that our estimates of the mass of Neptune were slightly off (by taking actual measurements when Voyager 2 passed right next to it). The hypothesis for another big boy planet this time is based on the orbits of kuiper belt objects that are too far to be affected by Neptune, Sedna included

other than that, great video, people who complain about Pluto clearly have never heard about the story of the asteroid belt so I'm glad you took the time to explain how it shows that this was just a repeat of history 👍

[Eulers_Identity]

The human ability to argue about massive rocks floating in space half a light-year away is frankly astonishing.

[ankaplanka]

Now I understand Pluto's demotion even better.

What I find pretty silly however is the reasoning behind their choice to make it simple for kids in school. I understand that too, but just because you want to make it simpler, that doesn't mean there is just 8 planets in the solar system.

I was in 2nd grade in 2005, so Pluto was among the planets we kids worked on. Can't remember what planet I worked on.. could have been Mercury?
Regardless, I would have LOVED to have even more planets to read about in school! Space is so fascinating!

[petersmythe]

Keep in mind that with Sedna, there should be many similarly-sized objects on super long orbits like that. And perhaps even Mars-sized or even Earth-sized objects scattered among them as well. Finding Sedna really opens the door to the possibility of vast amounts of stuff on highly eccentric orbit.

[OzymandiasWasRight]

The fact it has a giant heart on it just hurts. Such a loveable little guy.

[Writer_Productions_Map]

=Timeline of the Planets=

(1610)
*Mercury joined the game*
*Venus joined the game*
*Earth joined the game*
*Mars joined the game*
*Jupiter joined the game*
*Saturn joined the game*
(1781)
*Uranus joined the game*
(1801)
*Ceres joined the game*
(1802)
*Pallas joined the game*
(1804)
*Juno joined the game*
(1807)
*Vesta joined the game*
(1846)
*Neptune joined the game*
(1851)
*Ceres left the game*
*Pallas left the game*
*Juno left the game*
*Vesta left the game*
(1930)
*Pluto joined the game*
(2005)
*Eris joined the game*
(2006)
*Pluto left the game*
*Eris left the game*

P.S.: I think Asteroids should be named "Geoids" and the Dwarf Planets "Cryiods".

[C_B_Hubbs]

I'm a at a planetarium, and here are my thoughts on the subject. I think a lot of the controversy comes from the lack of teaching about the dwarf planets. I think that term is fine and describes what they are, similar to planets but smaller. It's just that when people talk about the Solar System and exclude the dwarf planets, of which Pluto is the one everyone knows, it doesn't satisfy peoples curiosity and desire to understand. I know this because I was in that position, being an elementary school kid in 2006 during the IAU scandal, and had read about Eris and other unnamed objects discovered beyond Pluto and wanted people to tell me more about them. By teaching people about the biggest of the dwarf planets (Ceres in the asteroid belt, Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, and Eris in the scattered disc, maybe a few of the others like Haumea) it explains that there are other significant objects orbiting the Sun that are worth exploring. This can also be said of the major moons of the Solar System; if someone is going to learn about Pluto and Eris then they should also learn about the Galilean moons, the large moons of Saturn, Triton, along with the familiar moon of Earth. By acknowledging Pluto and the other dwarf planets, separate still from the asteroids, planetoids, and tiny objects around the Solar System, even if in a separate category than the major planets, people will be satisfied to know that they exist and are interesting little worlds in their own right. It's ok to call them dwarf planets; it's not ok to call them nothing at all, and ommit them from existence.

[HighPeakMapping]

While I agree with the science behind classifying Pluto, Ceres, Eris & co. as "dwarf planets" I've always sorta longed for a separate classification for those larger Asteroid / Kuiper Belt objects. I think they deserve a bit more distinction from the little scraps of rock their regions are known for. Ceres, Pluto and Eris are better described as "proto-planets" as they really do display all the characteristics of regular planets, just not as developed as their larger cousins. I think Haumea could be included in this as well, with its own little ring system. Great video!

[olGrandpaby]

This is easily the best explanation I’ve ever heard about this subject. Good work.

[daniharling]

the 3 seconds after Uranus's introduction and then the subtle piano when the audience is waiting for the punchline that's never coming is the best thing that has happened to me this week.

[PhoenyxV]

I'll rate this as second best lecture on planetary classification I've heard. I went to one in college (I think presented by either Trujillo or Brown but I honestly don't remember) called "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" that's always stuck with me. Partly for the fantastic name, partly because prior to that lecture actually explaining the why behind Pluto's reclassification in an accessible way I was staunchly pro-planet-Pluto.