Je Pluton Vendarle Planet?
Is Pluto Really a Planet?
Written by Katja Žerjavič, translated by JL Flanner and G Translate
Samo nekaj let starejši od tebe so se v šoli učili, da je v našem osončju devet planetov.
People only a few years older than you were taught in school that there are nine planets in our solar system.
Pred 12 leti pa so astronomi izglasovali, da tisti, ki je od Sonca najbolj oddaljen, torej Pluton, ne sodi mednje.
Twelve years ago, astronomers voted that the one most distant from the Sun, Pluto, is not among this group.
Ko so z zelo močnimi modernimi teleskopi odkrivali nova nebesna telesa, so namreč ugotovili, da jih je veliko podobnih Plutonu.
When very powerful modern telescopes discovered new celestial bodies, they found out that these are very similar to Pluto.
Če bi vsa uvrstili med planete, bi jih v osončju naenkrat imeli kar 50.
If they were all classified as planets, then we would have as many as 50 in the solar system at one time.
Pri Mednarodni astronomski zvezi so zato določili drugačna merila za to, katera nebesna telesa uvrščamo med planete. Za Pluton ta pravila niso povsem veljala, zato so ga izključili.
Therefore, the International Astronomical Association has set different criteria to decide which celestial bodies are classified as planets. For Pluto, these criteria were not all met, so it was excluded.
Mnogi so to obžalovali. Angleški glagol “to pluto”, ki pomeni ponižati ali razvrednotiti nekoga ali nekaj, je takrat celo postal beseda leta.
Many have regretted this. The English verb “to pluto”, which means to humiliate or devalue someone or something, even then became a word of the year.
Zdaj posamezni znanstveniki pozivajo, naj Plutonu znova povrnejo status planeta.
Now, some scientists are urging that Pluto regain the status of a planet again.
Planetolog Philip Metzger trdi, da so Pluton razvrednotili zaradi več kot 200 let stare razlage, kaj je planet. »Če bi se je strogo držali, v našem osončju sploh ne bi imeli planetov.«
Planetologist Philip Metzger claims that Pluto was downgraded due to over 200 years of discussions as to what a planet is. "If all the rules were strictly applied, there would be no planets in our solar system at all."
Pluton je drugi najbolj raznovrsten in zanimiv planet, takoj za Zemljo. Ima podzemne oceane, ozračje iz več plasti, organske spojine in več lun.
Pluto is the second most diverse and interesting planet after Earth. It has underground oceans, multiple layers, organic compounds and more moons.
»Kaj je planet, moramo znanstveno preučiti, ne pa o tem glasovati«, pravi raziskovalec.
"What makes a planet is something we need to study scientifically, but not vote on," says the researcher.
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