Comment on Size Comparison: Pluto and Australia
toast@retrolemmy.com 3 months agoExactly. That’s also why Jupiter, which shares its orbit with thousands of asteroids, isn’t a planet either.
Comment on Size Comparison: Pluto and Australia
toast@retrolemmy.com 3 months agoExactly. That’s also why Jupiter, which shares its orbit with thousands of asteroids, isn’t a planet either.
youngalfred@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Do you mean the Trojans? They’re excluded from the mass calculation of ‘clearing the neighbourhood’ because they’re in a resonant orbit - their orbit is a consequence of Jupiter’s mass.
toast@retrolemmy.com 3 months ago
I don’t know. I don’t think we should make excuses for Jupiter just because of its size. Pluto’s doing the best it can. Could any of us do any better, so far out from the sun?
youngalfred@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Jupiter does throw its weight around a bit too much.
toast@retrolemmy.com 3 months ago
Thanks to your comments, I went looking at more about Jupiter’s influence on us and read that most of the other planets are more in line with Jupiter’s orbital plane than the Sun’s equatorial plane (which sounds impressive, but maybe only makes complete sense since the planets would have all initially formed from the same disk). Anyway, thanks
leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 3 months ago
No kidding. The Sun - Jupiter barycentre is outside the Sun.
Murdoc@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Jupiter was declared too big to fail.