Wildcat
Retired Moderator
I found this interesting cause I love Astronomy. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto's planetary status today to that of a dwarf planet. It was demoted because they have discovered many Pluto-like objects on the outskirts of the solar system so they no longer consider it unique.
So now there are only eight planets in our solar system, officially. Along with demoting Pluto, they made two additional dwarf planets--Ceres (the largest Asteroid), and 2003 UB313 (an object beyond Pluto's orbit that's sometimes called Sedna.) There's also been talk of adding Pluto's moon, Charon to the list of dwarf planets. I think it's a little silly to demote Pluto because it's been considered a planet for over 70 years, but I guess they have a point in it not being unique. I guess they'll have to rewrite all the science textbooks now.
So now there are only eight planets in our solar system, officially. Along with demoting Pluto, they made two additional dwarf planets--Ceres (the largest Asteroid), and 2003 UB313 (an object beyond Pluto's orbit that's sometimes called Sedna.) There's also been talk of adding Pluto's moon, Charon to the list of dwarf planets. I think it's a little silly to demote Pluto because it's been considered a planet for over 70 years, but I guess they have a point in it not being unique. I guess they'll have to rewrite all the science textbooks now.