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Pluto: the Forgotten Planet

On August 25, 2006, the XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union happened in Prague, Czech Republic (Cain). Most people would think this as something that doesnt really matter, something that they never knew was going on. But in fact, this assembly was quite important, for it has changed a fact that we all have grown up knowing. It changed the status of Pluto. Not the status like on Facebook, but Plutos Planitary status. They decided that poor Pluto was not a planet.

Pluto, due to small size and irractical orbit, has been disputed over and over. What about; whether it is either a major planet or a dwarf. Debates about this planet have intensified and each side house very strong points with and against Pluto's planetship.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh with limited intel (Rosanna). This was the cause of a delayed realistic understanding of pluto's characteristics. Pluto is the second largest dwarf planet and the tenth largest mass orbiting our Sun. From the discoveryin 1930 untill 2006 it was named the ninth planet in our solar system. It is now called a dwarf planet because because of the discovery of Eris. Eris is 27% more massive and it was called a dwarf planet. That discovery lead the IAU to call Pluto a dwarf planet.

Because of the discovery of Eris, Pluto's status as a planet began to bbe questioned. And at the XXVIth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) they had an overall ruling. They had changed the requirments tp become a planet. There were now three specific requirments (Cain). They were as follows: 1. It needs to be in orbit around the sun (Cain). 2. It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape (Cain). 3. It needs to have"cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit (Cain). Now Pluto only "passed" two of the three requirments. That being said, Pluto could not continue its life as a planet. Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status in the year 2006 (Cain).



Pluto is six times smaller than Earth, and even smaller than seven of the solar system's moons. The moons: Io, Europa. Ganymeda, Callisto, Titan, and Triton (Dr Tony and Amelia Phillips). This is why Pluto cannot be a planet.

Pluto's moon Charon is a very large moon in comparisino with the rest of the planets inthe solar system. Charon is about half the size of Pluto and Pluto ironicaly orbits around Charon. Charon was discovered in 1978 at the Naval Observatory by James Christy (Andy D). Pluto has three moons;Nix, Hydra, and Charon. Charon always has its face pointing at Pluto. But, once every two hundred and fifty six years Pluto will move infront of Neptune. While doing this Charon will move infront of Pluto, giving telescopes a better image of Charon.

Pluto has been through alot through out the past 80 something years. Things like being known world wide as a planet inits own, goin threw much debate, and being bumped out of the "Planet Club". But all in all, after all that Pluto has gone through, it is a dwarf planet. Or at least intill Pluto grows stronger and moves into its own orbit!




 * **Planets** || **Dwarf Planets** ||
 * orbits the sun || orbits the sun ||
 * has sufficient mass to get a round shape || has suffiecient mass to get a nearly round shape ||
 * does not cross another planets orbit || does cross another planets orbit.is not a satellite ||
 * bigger than 3031 miles in diameter || smaller than 3031 miles in diameter ||
 * heavier than a dwarf planet || heavy enough to bear reseblance to a planet ||

Citations:

Cain, Fraser. "Why Is Pluto Not a Planet." //Universe Today//. 10 Apr. 2008. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. [].

"Difference Between Dwarf Planet and Planet." //Differencebetween.net//. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. [].

Hamiton, Rossana L. "Dwarf Planet Pluto." //Solarview.com//. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. [].

Hsu, Jeremy. "As Science Evolves, So Does Pluto." //Space.com//. 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. [].