Pluto, the planet that got demoted to dwarf planet...

[Mindf!3ldzX]

....could get promoted back to being a planet!

Pluto a Planet Again? It May Happen This Year - The Crux

Planet Problems

Unlike the larger planets, however, Ceres, like Pluto, according to the IAU definition, “has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” The asteroid belt is, apparently, Ceres’ neighborhood while the Kuiper Belt is Pluto’s neighborhood – though no definition of a planet’s neighborhood exists, and no agreed upon understanding of what “clearing the neighborhood” yet exists. Furthermore, no broad-based agreement exists as to why “clearing the neighborhood” need be a requirement in order for an object to be considered a planet.

Some planetary astronomers would argue that were the Earth placed in the Kuiper Belt, it would not be able to clear its neighborhood and thus would not be considered, by the IAU definition, a planet; apparently location matters. Here a planet, there not a planet. I’d argue that location shouldn’t matter; instead, the intrinsic properties of the objects themselves should matter more. And so we are led back to Ceres and Pluto.

Never before visited by human spacecraft, Ceres and Pluto, as we will soon bear witness, are both evolving, changing worlds. Yesterday, Ceres and Pluto were strangers, distant, barely known runt members of our solar system. By the end of this calendar year, however, we will have showered both objects with our passion and our attention, we will have welcomed them both into our embrace. And we almost certainly will once again call both of them planets.

Damn right , about that underlined section.

[Baker]

Ceres has 1% mass of the moon.

[H1CC]

So are we defining what counts as a planet by size... or what, what's the deal with that?
It just seems like classifying planets has more internal conflicts on 'how to divide categories' than vertebrate taxonomy...

[DOOMchronage]

So are we defining what counts as a planet by size... or what, what's the deal with that?
It just seems like classifying planets has more internal conflicts on 'how to divide categories' than vertebrate taxonomy...

They're defined as bodies having cleared their own orbit

Clearing the neighbourhood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Mindf!3ldzX]

^ yup, and afaik , it only missed that one criteria for missing being classified as a planet. That miss demoted it into a new subcategory , dwarf-planet's.


Did anyone watch StarTalk TV , hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson , with guest George Takei ? I've been listening to Star Talk Radio for what seems ages now,and I can't get enough of it to be honest..and now he's on TV. I'm digging it ;P

[Ebisu]

Notice how the word planet is in the term "dwarf planet."
Just sayain.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Notice how the word planet is in the term "dwarf planet."
Just sayain.

That completely escaped me while typing the original title