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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.
Oct 13, 2022 · Pluto, officially a dwarf planet, has surprising complexity on its surface. While certainly a world, not everyone agrees it is a planet.
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)....
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one—it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.”
Oct 17, 2018 · Instead of being the most distant planet, Pluto seems to be the closest member of the Kuiper Belt, a donut-shaped ring of perhaps a trillion comets and ice balls that orbit beyond Neptune.
Aug 24, 2019 · Pluto was long considered our solar system’s ninth planet. But should it ever have been demoted at all? Learn about the history and science of Pluto.
Pluto is not a planet because the International Astronomical Union (IAU) requires certain criteria that it does not meet. As of 2021, Pluto is a dwarf planet that hasn't cleared its neighboring region.
