It is a sad day when we lose a planet, especially the famous Pluto. Pluto was probably my favorite planet, although I am not quite sure why. Perhaps it was b/c it was the underdog, the little guy trying to hold on and make it with the big boys. Well, the scientific world has given up hope on poor Pluto.

Pluto no longer a planet

Much-maligned Pluto doesn’t make the grade under the new rules for a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of “dwarf planets,” similar to what long have been termed “minor planets.”