Ever since Pluto was discovered, every school has taught that there are nine planets in our solar system. But recently something happened and Pluto got kicked out. It all started out in 2006 when NASA’s New Horizon Mission was launched and it made some observations and that got Pluto the boot.
Pluto is quite smaller than our moon with a diameter of 1,430 miles (2303Km). However, Pluto is a lot further than the moon- it is nearly 5.9 billion km (3.7 billion miles) from the sun. Because of its far distance it was the last planet to be discovered in 1930. There were no powerful telescopes prior to that year. Pluto was discovered by American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and from that time it kept its status as the ninth planet in our solar system.
Then in 2006, the International Astronomical Union set up new criteria in order to qualify as a planet that included:
- The structure must be globular
- It must orbit the sun
- It must have sufficient gravitation pull to clear its neighboring orbit
Well in 2006, the IAU officially got kicked out of the Pluto from club ‘planet.’ And the chief reason was because Pluto did not have sufficient gravitational influence to clear its neighboring orbit.
Instead Pluto is now classified as ‘dwarf’ planet. Dwarf planets are not officially recognized as fully-fledged planet but a ‘wannabe.’ Well now as a dwarf planet, Pluto is not alone. Four other dwarf planets include makemake, Haumea, Eris and Pluto are located way beyond Neptune. The fifth dwarf plant named Eres lies in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. Astronomers suspect that there are many more dwarf planets- they just not been discovered.
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