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Minute Physics 22 Jan 2026 25 here now

The REAL Reason Asteroids Aren't Planets

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Comments (20)

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A very beautiful and apt demonstration with the trail mix, thank you!
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Most astronomers already call Ceres a "dwarf planet"
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Very cool, simple yet effective illustration of why astroids are a total different thing than planets. Didn't knew that. Thank you!
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Quality may matter more than quantity, but I want more minutephysics videos because they are fabulous! 😎
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@PriusPC From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 13
i liked the thumbnail with nuts better then the one with actual planets and asteroids
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2:25 Wow this is an amazing demonstration with the nuts. What a simple and beautiful way to illustrate the idea!
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@eddiemikus From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 31
When Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet, wasn’t Ceres also raised to dwarf planet? I think that’s the case, but I’m not positive.
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3:21 "orbs" is hilarious 😭
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@kaitlyn__L From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 29
I never thought about when we first discovered the asteroids are mainly homogenous. Great visual metaphor with the nuts and raisins!
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0:10 well, that matches the origin of the word planet; it means 'wanderer' in greek, as in a star that moved rather than staying put. So the asteroids were planets before we really knew what they were.
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@KBRoller From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 124
Isn't Ceres already considered a dwarf planet, like Pluto?
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@jvdos From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 171
"I'm tired of arguing about these classification videos grandpa!"

Minutephysics: WELL THAT'S TOO DAMN BAD!
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@Mike-lu1pt From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 102
Woah, the stop motion animation was incredible!
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I prefer the categories "worlds" and "space rocks" 😆
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And to confuse things even more the word "asteroid" means star-like. Because in a telescope they looked like point sources of light like a star. Whereas planets have a clear shape even in a small telescope.
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1:27 interesting archaic use of the term "computer" in the 1912 article. Here, referring to a person who computes data, rather than a machine that does so.
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Casually dropping a periodic table timeline at 1:20
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The thumbnail is nuts
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@Cats-TM From YouTube ↗ 22 Feb 2026 976
That use of fruits and nuts is a really good illistration, but probably took so long.
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