Friday, August 25, 2006

Pluto Gets the Boot - No Longer a Planet, Say Astronomers

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. (via CNN)

The article goes on to state,
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."

Poor little Pluto!I remember making a model of the solar system using wires and foam planets for a school project...good times....

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