Is Pluto still a planet ?

Question

It was removed as a planet by who? and how if it still in the solar system.

Answer 1

Hello Dear

Everyone agrees that the largest worlds circling the Sun — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — make the cut in any planet definition. But lowly Pluto, less than 1/400th Earth's mass, has been a source of contention for years. When Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930, astronomers estimated it might be as massive as Earth. But with ever-improving observations, Pluto looked less and less like it belonged in the club.

Since the 1990s, astronomers have discovered hundreds of icy objects that, like Pluto, course through the fringes of the solar system in a zone astronomers call the Kuiper Belt. Many began regarding Pluto as little more than the region's largest object.

Then came Xena.

A team led by Caltech astronomer Michael Brown discovered the object — officially dubbed 2003 UB313 but better known by its TV-inspired nickname — in January 2005. Xena is slightly larger than Pluto. It seemed reasonable that If Pluto is a planet, and Xena is bigger than Pluto, then Xena must be a planet, too.

But the IAU decided not to approve a formal name for Xena until the object's planetary status could be determined. This meant waiting for the panel's proposed definition and its acceptance by the astronomical community.

"I credit the IAU with trying, but I think they sort of blew it on this one," says Brown. He explains that potentially 50 objects in the Kuiper Belt could be large enough to meet the panel's roundness criterion.

"What's the value of [a definition] when you add on another 50 bodies? I think it sort of cheapens the word 'planet,'

So Pluto was finally removed from the list of planetary objects and there are only 8 planets now.

Thank You
Deepak Poolamadai
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Answer 2

The International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto was no longer a planet. The reason is that while Pluto is round, orbits the sun, and has three moons, it has not cleared (via gravity) the neighborhood of its own orbit of debris. Instead, they decided to classify it as a "dwarf planet".

There is a precedent for this. When Ceres was first discovered in 1801, it was considered to be a planet. After astronomers discovered several other objects in the same orbit, it was reclassified as an asteroid. And, in 2006, it was again reclassified as "dwarf planet" just like Pluto.

Neither Ceres nor Pluto have enough mass (gravity) to accrete all the junk from their orbits. They will be "dwarf planets" until we humans decide otherwise.

See the details below.

RESOLUTION 5A
The IAU therefore resolves that "planets" and other bodies in our Solar System, except satellites, be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A "planet" [footnote 1] 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, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A "dwarf planet" 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 [footnote 2] , (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects [footnote 3] except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar-System Bodies".


Footnote 1: The eight "planets" are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Footnote 2: An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.

Footnote 3: These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

RESOLUTION 6A
The IAU further resolves:

Pluto is a "dwarf planet" by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects.

Answer 3

Its planetary status was revoked by the International Astronomical Union, so it is now classified as a "dwarf planet", not a planet. There is still a large amount of controversy over this, however, with a lot of astronomers refusing to accept the new definition.

Answer 4

it's still what it is. calling it a planet or a dwarf planet affects nothing in reality. it's just a change of definition.

did you know that the sun and moon were once considered planets? the sun will always be a big ball of gas that fuses hydrogen no matter whether people think it's a god or a big ball of gas that fuses hydrogen.

Answer 5

no it is not it is a moon i think because it orbits around another planet.

Answer 6

DEAR SIR

YES IT SURE IS AND IT HAS NOT THAT I KNOW OF OK

TAKE CARE

Answer 7

No,it isn't.

Answer 8

actually no.................