Pluto has recently been the subject of debate between those who say it should be counted among the Kuiper Belt objects, and those who don’t want to diminish Pluto's status as the ninth planet. That debate boils down to what is a planet and what is not, a straightforward concept with no real definition. Yes, Pluto doesn’t fit one of the priorities to be a planet. This one difference is that Pluto doesn’t have a clear neighborhood around its orbit and is not a satellite. Because of that, Pluto is now a “dwarf planet,” one that orbits the Sun but that has insufficient mass to “gravitationally dominate” its region of the solar system—that is, enough mass to sweep away other stuff orbiting there. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest member of a distinct population called the Kuiper Belt. Still trying to refine the definision, the task is growing more difficult as scientists discover the increasing number of weird worlds found circling other stars. And even worse, those little bodies that don’t qualify as planets will now be called plutoids or planetoids! Talk about respest.

Both Pluto and Eris should be considered full fledged planets, as should any objects orbiting the sun, that are not stars themselves and have a nealy round shape. The fact that Eris is more massive than Pluto has absolutely no bearing on this. The IAU demotion was a sloppy and controversial decision by four percent of its membership, most of whom were not even planetary scientists. We should be broadening, not narrowing, our conception of what a planet is.

Last year, the ninth planet was demoted because astronomers had a discovered a nearby object, planet-x, now officially named Eris, that was larger than Pluto. But instead of taking the route of accepting Eris into their family, which would have opened membership in the club of planets, astronomers decided to get more picky about what defines a planet. Two years after the controversial decision to take away Pluto’s status as a planet, astronomers are still unable to agree on how to define planet. When they finally came up with something, they quickly made it into a definition.

On August 24th, 2006, scientists redefined a planet without Pluto, after the American Museum of Natural History created a solar system model without Pluto. When thinking about what the definition of an actual planet, and a dwarf-planet would be, astronomers discussed the current definition of a planet and decided that a "planet" is a body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity has a nearly round shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. A "dwarf planet" is a 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 has a nearly round shape, (c) has NOT cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and (d) is NOT a satellite. After a week of debate, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) took Pluto out of planetary status because its orbit crosses Neptune's and therefore fails one of three planetary requirements. Pluto DOES orbit the sun, is ball-shaped, but is not a satellite and it does not have an isolated orbit.

I realize that Pluto is neither a dull, terrestrial planet or gas giant. It’s mostly ice. It’s smaller than our own Moon, and has an orbit so strange that it spends 20 years of its 248-year revolutionary period inside Neptune’s orbit. It’s tilted at a crazy 17-degree angle and its satellite, Charon, is so large that it’s been called a double planet. We have already kicked Pluto out of out planetary status before it has had one orbit! Why judge in such a hurry? 1930 was only like… five months ago in Pluto time! And instead of My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas, I guess she'll now have to serve us nachos, noodles or nectarines. I'd rather have nine pizzas.

fer reall

Also, New Horizons was on it's way. By the time they erased Pluto, it was probably bareley an eighth there! I will never like IAU until they undo their stuff.

THERE ARE NINE PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM! AND I DON'T MIND ERIS BECOMING ONE, EITHER!