no, the international astronomical union has given pluto a number in addition to its name. it is "134340 pluto".
http://www.iau.org/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto
pluto is not a planet, but pluto orbits the sun, is round, does not have an isolated orbit (a bunch of other similar bodies have similar orbits.), and is not a satellite so it is a dwarf planet. this does not change anything about the solar system or pluto. it just corrects the mistake of classifying pluto as a planet initially.
this same thing has happened before. beginning in 1800, astronomers found a few bodies orbiting between the orbits of mars and jupiter, and they finally stopped calling them planets after the fourth discovery. astronomers then added numerals to the names, and pluto recently got its numeral. 150 years from now, no one will think of "134340 pluto" as a planet. very few will even know we classified it as a planet. "1 ceres" and "136199 eris" are other dwarf planets.
i have been waiting for this since i was about twelve. i feel somewhat satisfied. i knew that pluto didn't fit the pattern set by the major bodies in the solar system so it was an anomaly. it just felt illogical and "out of place". this was the right thing to do, believe me. i don't understand why so many are having such a problem with this.
i don't know how long this will drag on tho. many planetary scientists are not satisfied that the definition is rigorous enough.
2006-09-21 11:14:27
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answer #1
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answered by warm soapy water 5
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no, officialy they have not come to a consensus on whether pluto should even be demoted yet, the media was making a big deal out of something that hadn't even happened yet, anyway if they demoted pluto to a dwarf planet they would have to promote ceres from a trans neptunian sattelite to a dwarf planet also
2006-09-21 18:53:07
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answer #2
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answered by ajbrasseaux 1
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Nope, but it's classified as a "dwarf planet" now. Can you believe people *protested* Pluto's "demotion"? Lol... One of the signs I remember seeing was "Size doesn't matter!"
2006-09-21 18:06:47
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answer #3
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answered by Derek 4
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no,they just added a number in front of it.its now called 134340 Pluto.
2006-09-21 20:13:35
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answer #4
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answered by That one guy 6
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