Terraforming Pluto.

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Titan is bigger than the moon and it has an atmosphere(and a thick one at that).

I believe astrnomers have a classification for planets already.

In laymens terms:

Pluto: Mini
Mars: Tiny
Earth: Small
?: Medium
?:Large
Jupiter,Saturn, Uranus, Neptune: Gas Giant

 

[Gogf]

What exactly would be the value of doing this?

 

[Perfection]

Well, I can kind of see the logic, however it's somewhat confusing to me because you seem to mix orbital/location parameters with compositional/size parameters.

Compositionally, Quaoar Triton Pluto and Charon are all very similar (Triton is thought to be a captured KBO)

Here's an idea what about some sort two-termed system with one describing orbital mechanics the other describing basic composition.

Edit: this was directed at TLC

 

[romelus]

I'm skeptical if it's luminosity wold be enough to heat pluto. Still pluto wouldn't be able to hold onto the atmosphere.

it's probable, as the sun would have expanded enough to swallow the inner planets. i think i saw this pluto scenario on space.com but i'm too lazy to find it again

i guess some domes will be needed to keep air from escaping

 

[Perfection]

it's probable, as the sun would have expanded enough to swallow the inner planets. i think i saw this pluto scenario on space.com but i'm too lazy to find it again

i guess some domes will be needed to keep air from escaping

Here's the article

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_habitable_030520.html

It says it might have thin atmophere (as it does now on close solar approaches) still we'd need to live in higher pressure then the stuff there, so domes will be a must.

 

[romelus]

Here's the article

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_habitable_030520.html

It says it might have thin atmophere (as it does now on close solar approaches) still we'd need to live in higher pressure then the stuff there, so domes will be a must.

yep that's the one

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Here's the article

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_habitable_030520.html

It says it might have thin atmophere (as it does now on close solar approaches) still we'd need to live in higher pressure then the stuff there, so domes will be a must.

I like the article. However, because we still don't know Pluto's true mass and density, I am skeptical about the gravity, so I agree about the domes. We could try a planet-wide "super-dome," but that would take A LOT of work.

I modified my terraformed pluto textures in celestia. The Pluto image at the beginning of this thread will be deleted.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

About the red giant sun thing, I checked it out using celestia. Based on the assumption that the sun swells into an M9III red giant star, with a radius 164 times its current size, and with a solar surface temperature of 2000 k, the habitable zone would only go as far out as Uranus, so if we wanted a warmer pluto, we would still have to heat it up artificially. Saturn would be too hot, and neptune about a dozen degrees colder than mars, so triton would be a good bet, assuming we find a way to keep it from crashing into the planet. Also, as the sun swells, it would eject some mass, so it would lose some of it's original gravitational pull, so if we're lucky, Earth might escape destruction, but it will still be the next Venus.

 

[Perfection]

I'll take space.com over you playing with Celestia any day of the week. All accounts I've heard of the Red giant's size say it will envelope earth.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I'll take space.com over you playing with Celestia any day of the week. All accounts I've heard of the Red giant's size say it will envelope earth.

I got that gravity thing off my Scientific American magazine.

 

[Perfection]

I got that gravity thing off my Scientific American magazine.

Which issue?

It would need some major mass loss to account for saving earth, and remember all this mass has to pass by earth. giving it some nasty orbital drag.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Which issue?

It would need some major mass loss to account for saving earth, and remember all this mass has to pass by earth. giving it some nasty orbital drag.

July 2004 issue., the article named "The Extraordinary Death of Ordinary Stars." At the top of page 56, there is a box titled "Terra-Cotta," containing text and an artist's depiction of the future sun seen from earth.

 

[Perfection]

Hmm, can't find that issue. Still, I can see the reasoning behind it, and even though it seems bit strange it may be valid.

 

[The Last Conformist]

@Perfection: I was asking myself whether there was an sense in differentiating 'tween "icy satellites" and KBOs (and IOCOs). Perhaps there is not; I'm not sufficiently up-to-date on composition and evolution of those objects to form a strong opinion. I do consider myself well-informed enough to judge lumping Jupiter and Mercury (not to mention Pluto) as the same class of object stupid.

(An object that totally defies my sketch of a classification is Io, unless we accept it as a really weird terrestrial, I guess.)

I've heard conflicting claims whether the Earth will be swallowed by the expanding Sun or not. In either case, it will be burnt to ash.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

There is the possibility that our descendants 5 Billion years from now will be advanced enough to prevent the sun from entering its Red Giant Stage(A stars equaleviant to a Senior Citizen), although I am a creationist, I find discussions like this fascinating.

On Celestia, where do you find these terraformed pictures and Red Giant simulations? Plutonian?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

@Geddon
I created the terraformed Pluto and Red Giant Sol thing all by my self.

 

[Perfection]

@Perfection: I was asking myself whether there was an sense in differentiating 'tween "icy satellites" and KBOs (and IOCOs). Perhaps there is not; I'm not sufficiently up-to-date on composition and evolution of those objects to form a strong opinion. I do consider myself well-informed enough to judge lumping Jupiter and Mercury (not to mention Pluto) as the same class of object stupid.

I think your onto something here. Perhaps however planet would still serve a useful term. The 8 planets cannot be described as being members of a large orbital population. However the other objects in the solar system for the most part can, the exceptions are usually those that have a special orbit with a planet. So in my two term methedology planet would still be a very useful and meaningful term.

@(An object that totally defies my sketch of a classification is Io, unless we accept it as a really weird terrestrial, I guess.)

Well, we could classify it as an irregular or sort of a combination. Io is very similar to the other Galilean moons except that it's icy part was stripped by tidal forces and it's now just a rocky core.

@(I've heard conflicting claims whether the Earth will be swallowed by the expanding Sun or not. In either case, it will be burnt to ash.

Well I guess we'll just have to wait it out...

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

@Geddon
I created the terraformed Pluto and Red Giant Sol thing all by my self.

could you send them over? please?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

could you send them over? please?

The pictures, or the actual Celestia stuff?

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

The Celestia stuff of coarse...