ScienceCasts: Smallest Terrestrial Planet?

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NASA's Dawn probe, now orbiting Vesta in the asteroid belt, has found some surprising things on the giant asteroid--things that have prompted one researcher to declare Vesta "the smallest terrestrial planet."

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  Science & Technology

[lordedvard8]

Pluto was once a planet too...

[VladiSSius]

i like NASA... 

[PngSmileDog]

fucking troll...

[BettterSkatez]

But Pluto had to face it's Arch nemesis, Humanity.

[Laurel Kornfeld]

Actually, Pluto is the largest dwarf planet, as in November 2010, more accurate measurements showed Eris to be slightly smaller than Pluto though more massive. Scientists weren't forced to do anything. There is nothing wrong with our solar system having 13 or even 50 planets. Saying we can't have too many planets is like saying we can't have billions of stars or billions of galaxies. It makes no sense.

[Laurel Kornfeld]

There is no reason to "draw a line" regarding what we call a planet. Instead, what is needed is a system of subcategories to define different types of planets.

[Laurel Kornfeld]

Pluto should not have a "minor planet" number, as it is not a minor planet. The term minor planet is a synonym for asteroid or comet, which Pluto and Ceres are not.

[Zontzo]

It feels good when even educated NASA scientists can't completely understand something =)

[EarlGreyBeatz]

it is between a sphere and a potato.

[Linkwii64]

a planet that have failed to become a rocky planet if Jupiter wasn't in the way.

[Pyrolonn]

It is an odd system to be sure. Comets probably more by historical reasoning, rather than any real difference, have a different naming convention than asteroids and no minor planet number at all.

[Shunmite]

discovering a wonderful things around the universe can help us to learn a lot.