Solar System reshuffle: Pluto downgraded from planet to dwarf
If you think you had a bad day, consider the plight of poor Pluto. Featured since its 1930 discovery as the ninth planet in our solar system, it appears as a mere speck on most comparative renderings, existing at the outer edge. Nonetheless, it’s been considered for the most part a peer of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
However, following a vote by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) today that redefined the term “planet,” Pluto was ousted from the club. The IAU members decided that “a ‘planet’ is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”
Pluto fails that test, shrinking the magic number to eight, thus relegating it to a “new distinct class of objects called ‘dwarf planets,’” according to the IAU.
That should cause a bit of a scramble for NASA, for teachers and students worldwide and any number of others who’ll have to remake all sorts of educational and informational materials to reflect the changing of the planetary guard! Before they do, you may want to quickly download a few PDF-based solar system souvenirs from the NASA websites and elsewhere.
No word from the Disney folks whether its Pluto character, reportedly named for the now-discredited planet, will be recast as a Snow White associate — upping her entourage to eight dwarves.
