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posted by janrinok on Sunday July 19 2015, @05:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the we-changed-the-rules,-we-can-change-them-back-again dept.

After nearly a decade in the wilderness of celestial classification, Pluto is on the rise again. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to adopt a new definition of what makes a body a planet, and to specifically demote Pluto to the status of dwarf planet. Now, with new data and images streaming in from New Horizons showing that Pluto is not only a little larger than previously thought, but also home to some remarkable geological features (including what may be some of the solar system's youngest mountain peaks, reaching to 11,000 ft/3,353 m high), many are saying it's time to restore the ninth planet to its previous station.

Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the most prominent advocates for Pluto are scientists working on the New Horizons mission, which reached the closest point of its long-awaited Pluto fly-by on July 14.

"We are free to call it a planet right now," Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist on the New Horizons mission, told DW.com. "Science is not decided by votes ... the planetary science community has never stopped calling bodies like Pluto 'planets'."

Really, isn't it time to re-classify Pluto as a dog?


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  • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday July 19 2015, @07:15AM

    by davester666 (155) on Sunday July 19 2015, @07:15AM (#210979)

    Yeah. It should be called a pygmy planet, so you also get some alliteration as well.

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