June 2- Science

In 2006, 5% of astronomers worldwide voted on a subject that would be hotly debated until now, and probably for a while to come. What vote could this possibly be? The split decision to degrade Pluto from being a planet to a dwarf planet. How could such an atrocity have taken place? How dare the IAU make such a decision?! It's to small to be a planet anyway...whatever your opinion is, technically, Pluto isn't a planet anymore. So for my daily question, I ask: Why?







The new definition of a planet is a bit more complex than the former definition of a planet. First, a planet must orbit around the sun. Well, lots of things do that. Comets, Asteroids, all that stuff. It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape. Gravity is a force that surrounds anything with mass. The more mass, the more gravity. If there is enough mass, an object can pull itself into a ball, the tightest object it can become. Pluto can do that. Finally, a planet must clear everything near its orbit. This is where Pluto just doesn't match up. There are lots of thing near Pluto that it just doesn't have enough gravity to pull into it. So, unfortunately for now, Pluto remains a "dwarf planet".