this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
486 points (99.2% liked)

Astronomy

3866 readers
103 users here now

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 67 points 1 month ago (4 children)

What is Pluto doing so close to Australia?

That shouldn't be allowed. Someone tell it to go back to it's usual orbit, this is not on.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago

Fuck off Pluto, we're full!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

You didn't know they had a thing? It lasted until Australia found out Pluto wasn't really a planet.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Still, the surface area is much bigger. Pluto is a real continent

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Discreetly insulting both Australia and Pluto in one sentence! Absolutely love this; will share it with all my Australia and Plutonian friends! If Earth gets attacked, it's not my fault, but yours :'P

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If Australia attacks Earth you’ll know you’ve been attacked.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

First they came for Pluto's planethood.

Next they're coming for Australia's continenthood.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

When they came for Pluto, I said nothing because I wasn't a planet
When they came for Australia, I said nothing because I wasn't a continent
When they came for Bielefeld, I said nothing because I wasn't a city
When they came for me, there was no one left to say anything

– Martin Niemöller

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wow, Pluto has approximately the same surface area as Russia

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

And now putin starts pumping out propaganda that pluto used to be russian

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (6 children)

So... Does this mean Australia is no longer a continent?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

Dwarf continent

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Or does it mean Australia is a planet?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Australia would have to round up its edges and clear it's orbit of little islands before being called a planet.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If that photo was taken right before impact, none of the continents will remain continents because it's all about to melt and we might have another moon when everything settles down and we evolve back from scratch over the next several billion years.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

The only survivors would be Australia's infamous Magma Spiders.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

Honestly never had a clue. Thanks for the share.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Pluto is still a sphere, this is an unfair comparison because Pluto hasn't been unwrapped

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fun fact: the surface area of Pluto is only about 4% larger than Russia.

[–] RandomVideos 7 points 1 month ago

So thats why Russia wanted to expand

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No shit? Wow, it's amazing that we were even able to find it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Even more amazing that it was found in the era it was. People were pouring over the skies looking for the next big planet, and instead they found this little guy.

There are still some orbital dynamics suggestions that something large and dark is lurking out there -- an ice giant. But it's still largely conjecture. It'd be interesting to see how they define it should they find something very large (say Neptune mass), but it hasn't cleared its orbit. Is it a planet or not? :D

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Actually 🤓 it was James Cook who found Australia and he didn't go there by ski but by ship and he didn't find one little guy but exterminated a whole indigenous population

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Ah shit, a switcheroo!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

And thats why you'll never be a real planet!

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Heresy! Australia will always be a planet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

No! Austria will never be a planet nor continent. It is a white, European country and I'm willing to die on that hill!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Absolute size isn't really in the criteria for a planet though. Pluto isn't a planet because it shares its orbit with lots of other icy bodies in the Kuiper belt.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Exactly. That's also why Jupiter, which shares its orbit with thousands of asteroids, isn't a planet either.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Jupiter does throw its weight around a bit too much.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (5 children)

This picture is inaccurate, Pluto is actually much farther away.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No it's just really small

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As a former Plutonian, I can confirm it's small, that's why we immigrated to Earth. And fucking cold!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Small little fucker, no wonder it’s not a planet anymore.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Straya's never been a planet, mate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Yeah, but it is a pretty big island.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (6 children)

What is this, a planet for ants?!

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

I have this Tshirt

I get groans

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Hey wtf put Pluto back to where it belongs. Do you have any idea how bad this is for the world economics???

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Would the owner of a beige 1930 dwarf planet please move it, or we will have it towed.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Still can't unsee Pluto(the dog) on Pluto

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Meanwhile, Australia is down there like "WTF mate?"

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Take that King Flippy Nips!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

introscene for the next mecha anime confirmed

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I can see why they no longer call it a planet, what's the cutoff for asteroid size?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is Neil deGrasse Tyson hiding somewhere in Australia?!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›