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?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 19 2015, @04:15PM
The IAU "decision" was as political a decision as any you'll find. The definition shoe-horned through makes no sense unless you want to demote the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune (that whole clearing the neighborhood thing), and there are no other planets anywhere in the Universe (it must be in a near circular orbit around the Sun, you know). You have a ten-day international conference where the vote was done on the last day. Out of 2700 people who attended the conference, only 400 or so were around on the last day, and 200-some voted. You were not allowed to vote unless you were present at the meeting, so out of 10,000 professional astronomers, only 200-some voted. Owen Gingerich, one of the people who was on the committee working on the definition of a planet, wasn't allowed to vote because he couldn't be in Prague that day [bbc.co.uk]:
Then we get to see headlines like "It's been settled!". But, Tyson and Brown have gotten a lot of mileage the last ten years going around proudly proclaiming they "killed" Pluto. It makes them feel like they're scientific rebels.