Do you think Pluto is a planet?

[Randy]

Do you think Pluto is a planet?

Why or why not?

 

[passenger]

Yes.
It just is.

 

[MrDawn]

Yes.
It just is.

According to NASA and the IAU, it is not a planet. It's a Dwarf Planet. They are not the same thing.

In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of “dwarf planet.” This means that from now on only the rocky worlds of the inner Solar System and the gas giants of the outer system will be designated as planets. The “inner Solar System” is the region of space that is smaller than the radius of Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. It contains the asteroid belt as well as the terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The “gas giants” of course are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. So now we have eight planets instead of the nine we used to have.

What is a Dwarf Planet?​

A “dwarf planet,” as defined by the IAU, is a celestial body in direct orbit of the Sun that is massive enough that its shape is controlled by gravitational forces rather than mechanical forces (and is thus ellipsoid in shape), but has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.

So, the three criteria of the IAU for a full-sized planet are:

1. It is in orbit around the Sun.
2. It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape).
3. It has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

Pluto meets only two of these criteria, losing out on the third. In all the billions of years it has lived there, it has not managed to clear its neighborhood. You may wonder what that means, “not clearing its neighboring region of other objects?” Sounds like a minesweeper in space! This means that the planet has become gravitationally dominant — there are no other bodies of comparable size other than its own satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence, in its vicinity in space.

So any large body that does not meet these criteria is now classed as a “dwarf planet,” and that includes Pluto, which shares its orbital neighborhood with Kuiper belt objects such as the plutinos

Why is Pluto no longer a planet?

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one—it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other...

www.loc.gov

 

[PGen98]

Yes. It was when I was a kid, damnit! Bring Pluto back into the mix!

 

[Malcolm]

it’s a planet to me! Always believed it was

 

[freakofnature]

NASA and the IAU are wrong. Pluto is a planet.

 

[Black Angel]

*cracks knuckles*

Yes.

And I will die on this hill.

I didn't go through the b.s. of 4 paper mache planetary dioramas just to have Pluto get cancelled as a planet..

GTFOHWTHBS..

 

[cybercupid]

NASA and the IAU are wrong. Pluto is a planet.

My thoughts too. I refuse to rip Pluto's title of full planet away. He's just a lil guy out there in space with big dreams 🥺

 

[Kyng]

I feel like it's an honorary planet .

Though, if anyone's interested in why Pluto's no longer considered a planet... CGP Grey did a good video explaining why: