is pluto a planet?

Answer 1

I live in New Mexico. It is still a planet when overhead here.

Answer 2

Is Pluto a planet???? Yes and no...

Well for starters, Pluto is just too small. In the neighborhood where Pluto lives? Planets are supposed to be huge. The Jovian planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are 20 to 300 times the size of the Earth, and Pluto is really small compared to the Earth, smaller than our Moon. Kind of stands out.

And Pluto is not made out the same material as the Jovians. The large planets are mostly gigantic spheres of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. Likely there are no solid surfaces, only denser and denser gas all the way in. Pluto is a small solid world of methane, water, carbon dioxide and ammonia ices, maybe a little rock and with a just hint of atmosphere (that freezes out and falls as snow in her "winter").

And third, Pluto's orbit is the most eccentric (oval shaped) and the most tilted to the plane that the rest of the planets orbit in. Also, Pluto is locked in a resonance with Neptune's orbit and comes closer to the sun than Neptune sometimes.

There were theories that Pluto was a lost moon of Neptune but that was before we discovered she a has one large moon (Charon) half her size (pretty much, this system is a double planet) and recently two other teeny-tiney moons (Nix and Hydra).

Pluto seems like she cant be an ejected moon-she must have formed on her own and seems to be part of an entire army of small icey-dwarf objects that circle just outside Neptune's orbit in what is known as the Kuiper belt. We have no idea of how many or how large these objects may be, hundreds???? NOT "planets" proper, hence the new term "dwarf planet" where Pluto is king.

But... I still think Pluto SHOULD be called a planet because of historical reasons (discovered by an American, financed by Percival Lowell, Tombaugh's life story, etc).

Answer 3

Pluto is a dwarf planet.
The International Astronomy Union defined the term "planet" scientifically. Pluto does not have the necessary characteristics to be a planet; however it is to big to be an asteroid and has a natural satellite too.

So, Pluto becomes a dwarf planet, along other Trans-Neptunian objects like Eris (another dwarf planet and bigger than Pluto) and Sedna.

Answer 4

It has recently been decided that Pluto is not a planet.

Answer 5

Pluto is not a planet.

Pluto is called a "Pluton." Which is sort of like an asteroid. Scientist are also confirming that there are more plutons like Pluto beyond Pluto that we have not discovered.

Answer 6

Nope not anymore.
Scientists recently discovered that pluto is not part of our solar system and is not a planet its a star.

Answer 7

Not officially, but it could change again. Pluto has characteristics that contradict the current classification, and charachteristics that support it. So for now, it is simply a rock, out in space.

Answer 8

No, it is a Dwarf Planet

Answer 9

Pooooooooor Plutoooooo!!! They kicked him out of the club!

Answer 10

not any more