Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Pluto

Pluto

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/July 14, 2015 by Brianboulton (talk) 16:13, 28 June 2015 (UTC)



Pluto is the second-most massive known dwarf planet, after Eris, and the largest object in the Kuiper belt. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is primarily made of rock and ice, and is relatively small, about $1/6$ the mass of the Moon. It has an eccentric and highly inclined orbit that takes it from 30 to 49 AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun. Light from the Sun takes about 5.5 hours to reach Pluto at its average distance. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was originally considered a planet. Starting in 1977 with the discovery of Chiron, numerous icy objects similar to Pluto with eccentric orbits were found. The understanding that Pluto is only one of several large icy bodies in the outer Solar System prompted the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to formally define "planet" in 2006. This definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a member of the new "dwarf planet". On 14 July 2015, the Pluto system is due to be visited by spacecraft for the first time. The New Horizons probe will perform a flyby during which it will attempt to take detailed measurements and images of Pluto and its moons. Afterwards, the probe may visit several other objects in the Kuiper belt.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Canis Major was TFA on January 4, 2015, the most recent astronomy related article . Tucana was TFA on June 2, 2015, the most recent astronomy article, but no recent articles (2015 and 2014) on the solar system or celestial bodies.
 * Main editors:
 * Promoted: April 29, 2007
 * Reasons for nomination: First of all, this article was already on the main page on October 7, 2007, and would normally not qualify for a second appearance. But I would argue for an exception to be made, given that on July 14 the New Horizons probe will visit Pluto, the first visit ever of a space craft to Pluto. Pluto is also the farthest object in space ever visited by a space craft, with the record so far being held by Neptune, visited by Voyager 2 in 1989. New Horizons will flyby Pluto on July 14 at 11:50 UTC, the first ping back to earth will be on July 15 at 00:09 UTC and the first images will be send by 10:00 UTC (see http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/03101637-pluto-image-expectations.html). So July 15 might also be a possible date for posting the Pluto article. I started a discussion about making an exception at the talk page, but as there was no feedback so far I was so bold to post a request here. If you feel that this is not worth making an exception for, I am sure the flyby will be posted in the "In The News Section".
 * Support as nominator. Varianceinvain (talk) 11:58, 31 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Oppose - Actually, I was thinking Eris (dwarf planet) would make a better choice; it hasn't run yet, and New Horizons is due to pass the planet. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 00:11, 1 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, and a good alternative (maybe a blurb for Eris could mention New Horizons...). But just to note, while New Horizons will visit a (tbd) Kuiper Belt object, a flyby of Eris will be impossible. Varianceinvain (talk) 09:16, 1 June 2015 (UTC)
 * You're right, I misread the last sentence in the lead. Striking my oppose for now. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 13:30, 1 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support: a useful introduction prior to the fly-by, although I suspect much will change once the data starts coming in. Plus: science. Praemonitus (talk) 19:18, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support: New Horizons visit will be a big event for the ex-Planet. Hawkeye7 (talk) 20:29, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support - I was thinking of nominating this as well. The flyby will be a historic first. The traffic on the article will probably be insane even if this isn't approved as TFA. Connormah (talk) 05:03, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Note: The TFA coordinators are minded to make the exception and schedule this for its second appearance. The article has grown by nearly 1,000 words since its TFA eight years ago, and there has been a lot of recent editing activity, presumably with this second appearance in mind. However, I can see that there are numerous paragraphs that do not close with a citation, something that was acceptable in the 2007 FA standards but not now. This should be attented to as part of the preparation. Brianboulton (talk) 16:40, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support - Be sure to add it to Today's featured article oddities though! TVShowFan122 (talk) 09:04, 14 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support considering the diminishing traffic on the mainpage, it would be worthwhile to IAR and perhaps change the trend at least temporarily. Nergaal (talk) 22:24, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support it's already been kicked out of the planet club and faced the ignominy of not even being the biggest dwarf planet; we should give it a break. Belle (talk) 11:09, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Support I thought our rule was five years between mainpage drinks....the importance of the date suggests a good opportunity for promotion of WP..and yes let's get stuck into the article. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 02:00, 27 June 2015 (UTC)