why isnt pluto considered a planet anymore?

Question

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Answer 1

A group of international astronomers formulated a definition of planet, and Pluto does not fit the definition. It's new classification is 'dwarf planet.'

Answer 2

In January 2005, an object 5% larger than Pluto, dubbed Xena, was discovered and they knew they either had to call that a planet or demote Pluto. So now the definition of a planet is, that it must have enough gravity to clear it's orbital path of near by objects. A dwarf planet has enough gravity to force it into a round ball, but not enough to clear it's orbital path. Also Pluto's orbit is like a Kuiper Belt object, which has at least a couple hundred objects. So now we have eight planets, and three dwarf planets so far, Pluto, Ceres, and Xena, which is now called Eris.

Answer 3

Well... the way I figure, it's due to several good reasons and finally decided upon by some really smart thinkers. First it's so far out there, when-in-the-heck are we EVER gonna get around to it anyways? It would take two-and a half generations to just get there, Day One, to just BEGIN the exploring part, and by then the crew, being human by nature, would've either gone crazy, or killed one another, or the children of the original astronauts wouldn't want to grow up to be like their parents, the Elders would just be floating around in their diapers anyway... get the picture?
Secondly, due to budgetary constraints, NASA realised that it could cut it's projected "Planetary Exploration" spending by a ninth (and when you're talkin' billions of dollars, that's significant!)
Thirdly, after intensive planning to finally explore, as is Man's nature, the final frontier Pluto, too many things can go wrong along the way. Not only the human element as mentioned above, but if the Rocket leans just a micro-hair to the left during lift-off, or a pea-sized projectile contacts the ship anywhere along the way, disaster. The ship could miss Pluto by a thousand accumulative miles, or explode like celestial fireworks (without a sound, of course, because in space, no one can hear you scream......)
So, I think those fellas with NASA just realised the futility of keeping Pluto on their decades-old "to-do" list and FINALLY during one of their many early morning planning meetings someone finally mustered-up the courage to just take a vote.
Looks like the "nays" got it......

Answer 4

Because if you are going to call Pluto a planet, then you would have to include all the other plenetoids in the Oort cloud, many of which are bigger than Pluto. Do we really want 58 planets to remember? I don't think so!! Most people can't name the eight we do have!

Answer 5

After the discovery of Pluto, it was quickly determined that Pluto was too small to account for the discrepancies in the orbits of the other planets.

Answer 6

Scientist decided a few years back to take away Pluto's planet status but it changed back quickly. I'd expect the same this time. Scientist don't consider Pluto a planet because of it's size and mass.

Answer 7

Its too small. Pluto is smaller then our Moon. If Pluto was a planet, then several asteroids and many moons of the planes would have to be called planets too. Plus Pluto and its moon Charon revolve around each other.

Answer 8

Astronomers and cosmologists are now making a distinction between a planet and a planetoid. Some are making an argument that Pluto is actually a planetoid: larger than an asteroid but smaller than a planet.

Answer 9

Because the International Astromical Union (IAU) have decided that the definition of a planet should change. One of the criteria is that a Planet must "clear it's orbit". As Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune it doesn't fulfill that criterion and therefore no longer qulaifies as a full planet.

Answer 10

Pluto's orbit isn't parallel to the orbits of the other planets and it's half rock half ice.