Oh my gosh!!! when did this happen? I am so confused...
2007-02-04 17:09:24 · 11 answers · asked by Katie 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
That's correct. Pluto was deemed to be too small to be considered a planet and was officially dropped from the list of planets in the solar system. It is no longer the ninth largest body orbiting the sun, as the dwarf planet UB313 (which has been named "Eris" after the Greek goddess of mischief and strife) has also been discovered. There is some debate as to whether Eris should be considered the 9th planet as its orbit is not the same as the other eight planets. Anyway, since Eris is slightly larger than Pluto, and Eris is (currently) not considered a planet, then it was decided that Pluto shouldn't, either.
2007-02-04 17:21:16 · answer #1 · answered by 27ridgeline 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Astronoers reclassified Pluto last year. It's now considered a member of the Kyber Belt--which is where this whole thing started.
It turns out that Plto is one of the closest (and largest) members of a "belt" (like the asteroid beldt between Mars and Jupiter) of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of objects that occupy the space beyond Neptune. So it doesn't make much sense to think of it as a planet--unless you want to call all these objects planets (in wich case we'd be saying there are maybe thousands of "planets" circlingthe Sun!. After discussing this for several years, astronomers finally decided it made more sense to reclassify Pluto.
2007-02-05 02:31:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pluto is no longer considered as planet.
These facts have contributed to the long-running debate over whether to consider Pluto a planet. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), an organization of professional astronomers, passed two resolutions that collectively revoked Pluto's planetary status.
You can see the explanation here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/pluto-planet.htm
2007-02-05 01:38:21 · answer #3 · answered by hyaki ikari 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They should have grandfathered Pluto as a planet just because we've all thought of it that way since its discovery.
That, and now my Schoolhouse Rock DVD is wrong when it says "and Pluto, little Pluto is the farthest planet from the Sun..."
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2007-02-05 02:13:12 · answer #4 · answered by ZeroByte 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they demoted Pluto quite a long time ago (some time last year actually) because they decided that it was not big enough to be a planet and also that a planet is partially defined as "... not crossing into another planets orbit path" which Pluto does (i am not sure what planet it shares an orbit path with though)
2007-02-05 01:25:04 · answer #5 · answered by mcdonaldcj 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
pluto is smaller than earth's moon.it moves along the sun in eleptecil oribit sometimes it cuts the path of neptchone. resently they found a planet as the size of pluto.they thoght there is probiability of finding such objects beyond the pluto. so they creat a new term dwarf plenet.so pluto is no longer a palnet
2007-02-05 02:53:02 · answer #6 · answered by harsh 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This happened quite a few months ago. The astronomical society got together and demoted it to a new term, dwarf planet.
2007-02-05 01:16:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if im not mistaken.. maybe midyear of 2006
the experts said that coz the latest criteria of planet is that the orbital shouldn't cut through the other planet orbital
while pluto's cuts neptune's
2007-02-05 03:04:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
And now you know why all the wierd things have been happenning since Pluto got diss'd ! !
2007-02-05 01:17:46 · answer #9 · answered by Revenant Hamster 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it happened last year............they found an 'object' out beyond Pluto that is slightly bigger.... an since they didn't think it was big enough to call it a planet............then neither should Pluto have that distinction
2007-02-05 01:20:20 · answer #10 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋