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15 Años Con El Planeta Enano Plutón

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15 Años Con El Planeta Enano Plutón OPINION 15 años con el planeta enano Plutón Tras intensos debates en la comunidad astronómica mundial y a pesar de las protestas de muchos aficionados, el 24 de agosto de 2006 Plutón dejó de ser un planeta y pasó oficialmente a ser un planeta enano. Mientras se acaba de zanjar la polémica, este cautivador mundo helado se ha convertido en la primera etapa de una nueva época de descubrimientos en los confines del sistema solar. Carlos de la Fuente Marcos 24/8/2021 09:00 CEST Imagen de Plutón captada por la nave New Horizons de la NASA cuando pasó cerca de este planeta enano en julio de 2015. / NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI Hace casi un siglo, el 14 de marzo de 1930, periódicos de todo el mundo se hacían eco del descubrimiento de Plutón con titulares como este: “Descubierto el noveno planeta al borde del sistema solar: el primero encontrado en los últimos 84 años”. Su clasificación como planeta se mantuvo durante décadas, pero justo hace ahora 15 años, el 24 de agosto de 2006, pierde ese estatus y pasa a ser clasificado como ‘planeta enano’, tras un encendido debate en la XXVI Asamblea General de la Unión Astronómica Internacional (UAI) celebrada en Praga (República Checa) y la subsiguiente votación: 237 votos a favor del OPINION cambio, 157 en contra y 17 abstenciones. Pocos acontecimientos han dividido tanto a la comunidad astronómica mundial, tanto aficionada como profesional, como la reclasificación de Plutón Pocos acontecimientos han dividido tanto a la comunidad astronómica mundial, tanto aficionada como profesional, como la reclasificación de Plutón. Sin embargo, este tipo de reclasificaciones de objetos una vez que se ha comprendido mejor su naturaleza no es ajena a la historia de la propia astronomía. Ahí está el caso de Ceres. Cuando Giuseppe Piazzi anunció su descubrimiento el 24 de enero de 1801, los únicos objetos del sistema solar conocidos eran los ocho planetas, algunas de sus lunas y los cometas. Lógicamente y tras calcularse su órbita con una precisión razonable, Ceres fue clasificado en principio como planeta. Asteroides y planetas menores Pero los años pasaron y aunque los libros y otros materiales educativos seguían hablando del planeta Ceres, la comunidad astronómica continuó encontrando objetos con propiedades similares. Herschel acuñó el término ‘asteroide’ en 1802 para referirse a ellos, el almanaque británico The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris comenzó a denominarles ‘planetas menores’ en 1841, y el Observatorio Naval de EEUU como ‘pequeños planetas’ en 1868. Las palabras asteroide y planeta menor fueron aceptadas rápidamente por la comunidad astronómica y las designaciones estándar (1 Ceres, 2 Palas, 3 Juno, etc.) para los asteroides fueron adoptadas en 1851. No fue necesario realizar una votación oficial para reclasificar a Ceres. El tiempo y la ausencia de una directriz oficial posibilitaron una transición OPINION paulatina y sin traumas. A medida que se produjeron nuevos descubrimientos, la comunidad astronómica comprendió que estos eran fundamentalmente distintos de los planetas conocidos y dejó paulatinamente de referirse a ellos como planetas, comenzando a llamarles asteroides, planetas menores o cuerpos menores, aunque esta última acepción también incluye a los cometas. El caso de Plutón guarda cierto paralelismo con el de Ceres, aunque en este último el tiempo y la ausencia de una directriz oficial posibilitaron una transición paulatina y sin traumas de planeta a planeta enano De hecho, es poco habitual encontrar en publicaciones del siglo XX referencias a Ceres o a alguno de los asteroides del cinturón principal como planetas. El caso de Plutón guarda cierto paralelismo con el de Ceres, aunque el primero haya sido reclasificado oficialmente. Unos años antes, el 30 de agosto de 1992, David C. Jewitt y Jane X. Luu observando desde el observatorio de Mauna Kea en Hawái (EE UU) descubrieron 15760 Albion, cuya designación provisional fue 1992 QB1. Era la primera vez que se descubría un objeto tan distante como Plutón y la prensa no tardó en referirse a él como el décimo planeta. Pero poco duró: cientos de los llamados objetos transneptunianos fueron descubiertos entre 1992 y 2006, cuando la UAI decidió reclasificar a Plutón. Algunos tienen órbitas similares a la suya, otros se mueven en trayectorias mucho más excéntricas y distantes. Varios de los objetos transneptunianos descubiertos, en concreto Eris (cuyo estudio condujo al ‘destierro’ de Plutón como planeta), Makemake y Haumea, rivalizan en tamaño con Plutón o lo superan. Junto a Ceres, son los cinco planetas enanos. OPINION Comparación aproximada de tamaños de los planetas enanos Plutón (con su satélite Caronte), Haumea, Eris, Makemake y Ceres respecto a la Tierra y la Luna. / NASA, ESA, JPL, A. Feild (STScI) Plutón había dejado de ser un objeto único, peculiar o especial. Como Ceres, para muchos ahora estaba claro que es fundamentalmente diferente de los ocho planetas clásicos, aunque haya sido también visitado por nuestras sondas espaciales. En concreto, por la nave New Horizons de la NASA, que el 14 de julio de 2015 se aproximó a una distancia de 12.500 km de Plutón. Sin embargo, su naturaleza misteriosa había cautivado durante décadas la imaginación tanto del público en general como de sectores de la comunidad astronómica. Un cambio drástico como el que se votó aquel 24 de agosto de OPINION 2006 tenía que ser necesariamente polémico y suscitar reacciones encontradas. Pasar página a una controversia que sigue Desafortunadamente, la controversia asociada a la decisión de reclasificar a Plutón como planeta enano todavía persiste quince años después. Quizás ya es hora de mirar hacia adelante y dejar de lado controversias improductivas. En su momento, Plutón representó el salto de una barrera, la de las 30 unidades astronómicas o UA (1 UA es la distancia media entre la Tierra y el Sol, y 30 es la distancia media entre Neptuno y el Sol). Pero los nuevos descubrimientos nos han llevado mucho más allá, abriéndonos horizontes previamente inexplorados, despejando viejas incógnitas y trayéndonos infinidad de nuevas cuestiones a resolver. La controversia de Plutón ha restado brillo al reciente cruce de una nueva barrera, la de las 100 unidades astronómicas (UA) que define de forma aproximada el denominado frente de choque de terminación y la heliopausa o frontera que separa el viento solar del medio interestelar La controversia de Plutón ha restado brillo al reciente cruce de una nueva barrera, la de las 100 UA que define de forma aproximada el denominado frente de choque de terminación y la heliopausa o frontera que separa el viento solar del medio interestelar. El 17 de diciembre de 2018 se anunció el descubrimiento de 2018 VG18 o FarOut, el primero objeto del sistema solar encontrado a una distancia más allá de 100 UA. Lo encontraron los astrónomos estadounidenses Scott S. Sheppard, David J. Tholen y Chadwick Trujillo a casi 124 UA de la Tierra. Pero afortunadamente las buenas noticias no acaban aquí. El 10 de febrero OPINION de 2021, el mismo equipo anunció el descubrimiento de un objeto aún más lejano: 2018 AG37 (apodado Farfarout), situado a más de 132 UA. La ventana de las 100 UA ya está abierta y la comunidad astronómica está lista para empezar a explorarla. Los astrónomos Malena Rice y Gregory Laughlin de la Universidad de Yale (EE UU) anunciaron en diciembre de 2020 el descubrimiento, con el telescopio espacial TESS, de ocho objetos situados a más de 100 UA, incluyendo un candidato localizado a más de 200 UA. ¿Nuevos planetas en el sistema solar? Pero esto puede ser sólo el principio. El Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) ha observado en microondas varios objetos candidatos situados a distancias de entre 300 UA y 2000 UA. La colaboración encabezada por Sigurd Naess cree que alguno de ellos podría corresponder a un cuerpo celeste con una masa igual o superior a las cinco masas terrestres; es decir, se trataría de un planeta propiamente dicho, pero de menor masa que Urano y Neptuno. El Gran Telescopio Canarias ya ha observado objetos situados a más de 100 UA y ha comenzado un sondeo para intentar confirmar candidatos que incluye un posible nuevo planeta La confirmación y el eventual estudio de objetos tan remotos como estos necesitan de los mayores telescopios disponibles, como el Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) de 10,4 metros de diámetro, actualmente el mayor telescopio óptico operativo completamente orientable. GTC ha sido capaz de observar 2018 VG18 y 2018 AG37 y ha comenzado un sondeo para intentar recuperar los candidatos anunciados por la colaboración ACT y quizás otros nuevos. Las primeras observaciones ya han sido realizadas y el análisis de los datos está en curso. Se esperan resultados preliminares antes de que acabe el año. OPINION El descubrimiento de Plutón fue solo el principio, gracias a disponer de telescopios de mayor tamaño y de mejor tecnología ahora podemos ir mucho más allá. Probablemente surgirán nuevas controversias científicas, pero la exploración del sistema solar más distante, que comenzó con el hallazgo de Plutón, sin duda nos va a deparar grandes descubrimientos en los próximos años. Diferencia entre planeta y planeta enano En la misma asamblea de 2006 donde la UAI acordó que Plutón es un planeta enano, se definió planeta como un cuerpo celeste que (a) está en órbita alrededor del Sol, (b) tiene suficiente masa para que su autogravedad supere las fuerzas del cuerpo rígido, de modo que asume una forma de equilibrio hidrostático casi redonda, y (c) ha despejado [de objetos] la vecindad alrededor de su órbita. En el caso de los planetas enanos coinciden los puntos (a) y (b), aunque respecto a que deben ser aproximadamente esféricos, alguno como Haumea es más bien elipsoidal. Pero en lo que son diferentes es en la (c), ya que los planetas enanos no han limpiado la vecindad alrededor de su órbita, Es decir, puede tener objetos de similar tamaño en órbitas relativamente cercanas.
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