Why Pluto Lost Its Planet Status

Key Takeaways

in 2006 Pluto lost its status as a planet and here's why Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was initially classified as the ninth planet in our solar system but as astronomers learned more things got complicated Pluto is much smaller than any of the other planets even smaller than Earth's Moon its orbit is also highly eccentric and tilted compared to the eight major planets sometimes even bringing it closer to the Sun the Neptune the real Turning Point came in 2005 with the discovery of ays an object in the Kyper belt that's almost the same size as Pluto this led scientists to rethink what it means to be a planet in 2006 the international astronomical Union IU defined three criteria for a Celestial body to be a planet it must orbit the sun it must be spherical in shape due to its own gravity and it must have cleared its orbit of other debris Pluto meets the first two criteria but it fails the third it's orbit is full of other objects in the Kyper belt because of this Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet so while Pluto isn't a planet anymore it's still a fascinating part of our solar system reminding us that space is full of surprises