Is Pluto a Planet?

Answer 1

Much to my surprise, the International Astronomical Union has indeed voted on a resolution that defines exactly what a planet is and Pluto no longer qualifies. This means that Pluto is indeed not a planet any more and that our solar system no longer has the nine planets I learned about as a kid, but only eight!

Don't worry, though, Pluto is now to be known as a dwarf planet, so it's not been completely ejected from our solar system, just relabeled. The eight planets in our solar system are now, in order from the Sun outwards, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

As The Planetary Society explains, "a “planet” is now 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."

"A dwarf planet, according to the new definition, is 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, (c) has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite."

Got it?

There are now three dwarf planets in our solar system, so Pluto isn't alone. It's joined by the asteroids Ceres and Xena (aka UB313), though more than a dozen are on the IAU's dwarf planet watch list, if you can believe it.

One key reason that Pluto has been given the boot is because its orbit is not in the same ecliptic plane as the rest of the planets and isn't circular as are the planets, but is rather "eccentric". Indeed, at certain points in its orbit, Pluto is actually closer to the sun than Neptune.

Answer 2

Pluto is no longer categorized as a planet. The Minor Planet Center has assigned Pluto an asteroid number 134340.

This is an excerpt from a news article on Skytonight.com:

"Without fanfare, the September 7th batch of circulars from the Minor Planet Center assigns number 134340 to Pluto. This action brings Pluto into the ranks of small solar-system bodies having accurately known orbits — the same roster that starts with 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 3 Juno, 4 Vesta, and so on. The list includes such famous objects as 433 Eros, 1862 Apollo, 3200 Phaethon, and 50000 Quaoar."

Answer 3

pluto is not a planet
Pluto moves in the most eccentric ellipse and is the only planet whose orbit crosses that of another planet.
Pluto has tidally locked the rotation of its moon Charon, forcing it to forever show the same face to Plutonians.
Earth has tidally locked the rotation of its moon (the Moon) so that it always shows the same face to Earthlings. The embarrassing part is that Charon is so large compared with Pluto that its tidal forces have tidally locked Pluto’s rotation where both moon and planet show the same side to each other as they waltz forever in space. With a diameter of 1,400 miles, Pluto is, by far, the smallest planet. Seven moons in the solar system are larger: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Triton, and of course, Earth’s Moon (although Mercury is smaller than both Ganymede and Titan). Finally, neither rocky, nor gaseous, Pluto is the only planet made primarily of ices.

Answer 4

NO! It's not a planet anymore- seriously scientists demoted it recently from the solar system of "Planets" now it is called a "Dwarf Planet". They just made new rules and guidelines.

Answer 5

Pluto is no longer a planet. It was deemed to small to be compared with its bigger siblings like Jupiter.

Answer 6

no it is no longer a planet, the last definition of a planet is that the thing that has a diameter more than 800 meters an has an orbit around the sun

Answer 7

Not anymore. Now it's an asteroid. Poor pluto.

Answer 8

It was a planet.now it is a dwarf planet.

Answer 9

No and its sooooo stupid after this long one person decided to make it a big deal and then everyong followed that one person
peopke need to leave things alone if its not broke dont fix it

Answer 10

It's a "minor/dwarf" planet now.