Transcript What about Pluto

What about Pluto?
Introduction
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Debate has been raging about whether Pluto
should continue to have the status of a
Planet! The International Astronomical Union
(IAU) General Assembly, on 24 August 2006,
has decided to make a new category - the
Dwarf Planet and put Pluto into this new
category.
Introduction Cont.
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International Astronomical Union (IAU) which has the naming rights to space
objects - has a working group considering
the definition of a "planet". But some would
say that the vote to demote Pluto, on the last
day of the General Assembly when most
Astronomers had departed, meant that "was
not truly representative" of the IAU.
Under the new ruling, the IAU
defines a planet as…
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a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun
has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to
overcome rigid body forces so that it
assumes a nearly round shape
has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
Because Pluto does not meet
the last criterion…
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(its orbit cuts into that of Neptune)
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the IAU demoted it to 'dwarf planet' status.
The decision leaves the solar system with
only eight planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Pluto is now classified as a Dwarf
Planet…
Is this the best
decision?