Can We Call Pluto and Charon a 'Binary Planet' Yet? 115
astroengine writes The debate as to whether Pluto is a planet or a dwarf planet rumbles on, but in a new animation of the small world, one can't help but imagine another definition for Pluto. As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft continues its epic journey into the outer solar system, its Kuiper Belt target is becoming brighter and more defined. Seen through the mission's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera, this new set of observations clearly shows Pluto and its biggest moon Charon locked in a tight orbital dance separated by only 11,200 miles. (Compared with the Earth-moon orbital separation of around 240,000 miles, you can see how compact the Pluto-Charon system really is.) Both bodies are shown to be orbiting a common point — the "barycenter" is located well above Pluto's surface prompting a new debate on whether or not Pluto and Charon should be redefined as a "binary planet".
This is pretty damn silly (Score:4, Interesting)
This mission will put a new spotlight on Pluto and its âoedwarf planetâ status, potentially highlighting its current classification as a woefully inadequate description of such a dynamic and interesting binary system.
Ok, so it's a "binary dwarf planet" - can we tone down the prose now?