Pluto (center) and its moon (lower left)
A comet.According to the International Astronomical Union,a planet has cleared its orbit of objects like comets.
Eight planets and pluto (lower left)orbit the sun.
How many planets are in our solar system?The answer used to be nine:Mercury,Venus,Earth,Mars,Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus,Neptune,and Pluto.
But on August 24,2006, the International Astronomical Union dropped Pluto from the list.
How could this have happened?Pluto hasn't changed in size or orbit since it was discovered in 1930.But scientists have discovered other orbiting bodies beyond the planet Neptune.They are very similar to Pluto.Some astronomers said that if Pluto is called a planet,then these other bodies should also be called planets.Others disagreed.They didn't want to add to the lust of nine.Astronomers decided they needed a better definition of "planet."
So,after much debate,the astronomers as the International Astronomical Union redefined the word.The new definition has three main requirements:(1)a planet orbits the sun (2)a planet is large enoguh so that gravity has made it round,and (3)a planet has cleared its orbit of objects like asteroids and comets.Pluto and the other large bodies do not meet the third requirements,so they are not planets according to the 2006 definition.
they have been renamed "dwarf planets."
Not everyone is happy with this new definition.But we should not be surprised that science changes.After all,if science didn't change,we wouldn't have progress.