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Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet because, while it is large enough to have become spherical, it is not big enough to exert its orbital dominance and clear the neighborhood surrounding its orbit.
In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of “dwarf planet.” This means that from now on only the rocky worlds of the inner Solar System and the giant planets of the outer system will be designated as planets.
Pluto was long considered our ninth planet, but the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. NASA's New Horizons was the first spacecraft to explore Pluto up close, flying by in 2015.
Jul 13, 2015 · For more than 70 years, Pluto was one of nine planets recognised in our Solar System. But in 2006, it was relegated to the status of dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). So...
Why is Pluto no longer a planet? Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union because other objects might cross its orbit.
Aug 24, 2023 · On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced it had re-classified Pluto as a dwarf planet. From 1930 until then, Pluto had been considered a normal planet and the...
Aug 24, 2021 · On August 24, 2006, in Prague, members of the International Astronomical Union voted for a new definition of planet that redesignated Pluto and its neighbor Eris as dwarf planets, shrinking...
Jul 28, 2022 · Pluto stopped being a planet in 2006 when it was reclassified as a dwarf planet, a demotion that attracted controversy and stirred debate in the scientific community and among the general public.
Jan 5, 2012 · Even though Pluto is a dwarf planet, and no longer officially a planet, it’ll still be a fascinating target for study. And that’s why NASA has sent their New Horizons spacecraft off to...
Discovered in 1930, Pluto was long considered our solar system's ninth planet. But after the discovery of similar intriguing worlds deeper in the distant Kuiper Belt, icy Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.