On September 18, 2014 the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics revisited the topic of what a planet is. The meeting lasted for an hour and ended in a vote of 2-1 in favor of Pluto being a planet, based off a new, unofficial decision they came up with.
This started a lot of debates about what a planet is, and led some people to discuss the definition of a planet.
The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh. Then in 2006, the rock/ice mixture that was about the same size as Pluto, Eris was discovered, demoting Pluto to being a ‘dwarf planet’.
International Astronomical Union declares a planet is a celestial body that orbits the sun, is round, and has cleared the area around its orbit. Pluto didn’t fit these qualifications and was demoted because it was too small to be able to knock space rocks out of its orbit.
Some sources are informing people that Pluto is a planet again, or at least the possibility of it. Things like moons and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are affecting the rumors. More information about the planet will unveiled in 2015 when the New Horizons probe will be sent to Pluto, to discover a lot of things that are still unknown.
Finding actual facts on this topic though are hard to come by, so we’ll have to wait until NASA makes a declaration. For more information -
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/pluto_planet_debate_harvard.html
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/02/tech/innovation/is-pluto-a-planet/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.VFoj5hC-2m4
This started a lot of debates about what a planet is, and led some people to discuss the definition of a planet.
The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh. Then in 2006, the rock/ice mixture that was about the same size as Pluto, Eris was discovered, demoting Pluto to being a ‘dwarf planet’.
International Astronomical Union declares a planet is a celestial body that orbits the sun, is round, and has cleared the area around its orbit. Pluto didn’t fit these qualifications and was demoted because it was too small to be able to knock space rocks out of its orbit.
Some sources are informing people that Pluto is a planet again, or at least the possibility of it. Things like moons and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are affecting the rumors. More information about the planet will unveiled in 2015 when the New Horizons probe will be sent to Pluto, to discover a lot of things that are still unknown.
Finding actual facts on this topic though are hard to come by, so we’ll have to wait until NASA makes a declaration. For more information -
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/10/pluto_planet_debate_harvard.html
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/02/tech/innovation/is-pluto-a-planet/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.VFoj5hC-2m4