ATTENTION SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS

PLUTO is NOT a planet!?

Pluto has been demoted!  As you have undoubtedly heard by now, 424 Astronomers voted on August 24, 2006 at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague to finally establish an official definition of a ‘planet’ (amazingly, none has previously existed).  This new definition states:

"A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."
The new definition also includes three classifications for objects in space.  They are:

• Planets: The eight worlds from Mercury to Neptune.
• Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."
• Small Solar System Bodies: All other objects orbiting the Sun.

According to this new definition, Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet and is no longer considered to be in the same classification as the other eight planets.

PLEASE NOTE:  As of August 24, 2006, Pluto officially became a dwarf planet and the official count of planets in our solar system is now 8. 

For more information and late breaking news about Pluto, we recommend that you consult www.space.com