Why is Pluto Not a Planet?

Ahoy, let’s think! Today we answer the question “Why is Pluto not a planet?”
A very long time ago, probably when your parents were growing up, the solar system consisted of nine planets, with Pluto being one of them. Unfortunately, in 2006 after a potential discovery of a new tenth planet, the International Astronomical Union or IAU, decided to create a clear definition of what a planet is and the three criteria it needed to be considered one.
First a planet must orbit around the sun. Second, it must be massive enough to be pulled into a sphere shape and third it has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. This means that the planet’s gravitational force is the most dominant in that orbit. Unfortunately, Pluto did not meet all these criteria. Due to its much smaller size, Pluto was unable to clear its neighborhood. What was also unique was that Pluto was the only one to cross another planet’s orbit. That's not very planet friendly. Thus a new category, the dwarf planets were born. This meant that Pluto was no longer considered one of the main 9 planets and became classified as a dwarf planet instead. But don’t worry. Pluto isn’t alone. As of today, there are 5 main dwarf planets, with many more potential ones being discovered.
So that answers the question, Why is Pluto not a Planet. That took some thinking!
#Pluto #Space #Planets
That took some thinking! If you have any questions you would like answered leave a comment below!
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