On August 24, 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with the definition for the word "planet", and Pluto did not fit into that category . They noticed that Pluto, and other trans-neptunian objects, were even smaller than Mercury; Mercury has a diameter of over 3,000 miles and Pluto only has just over 2,800 miles in diameter.
So basically the only reason Pluto isn't considered a planet, is because of its size compared to tall of the other planets in our solar system.
Pluto is currently classified as a "dwarf planet". Before 2006 it was considered a full fledged planet until....it was reclassified. The reason is because ever since there have been other objects detected that were comparable in size and structure to Pluto....it was determined that there were too many objects like this to have them all classified as planets.
Even though Pluto is spherical....and does orbit the sun....and does have three moons.....it has not cleared it's orbital path of debris....as the other for-mentioned objects have not also.
Because of this....Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
"Pluto is not a planet because it is way too small, and it doesn't meet the necessary requirement needed to be a planet.
The requirements are:
It needs to be in orbit around the sun--Yes, Pluto does orbit the sun.
It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape -- Pluto...check.
It needs to have "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit -- Uh oh. Here's the rule breaker. According to this, Pluto is not a planet.
Here is where Pluto is lacking problems, but what does "cleared its neighborhood" mean? As planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body in their orbit in the Solar System. As they interact with other, smaller objects, they either consume them, or sling them away with their gravity. Pluto is only 0.07 times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth, in comparison, has 1.7 million times the mass of the other objects in its orbit.
Any object that doesn't meet this 3rd criteria is considered a dwarf planet. And so, Pluto is a dwarf planet. There are still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling around in its orbit. And until Pluto crashes into many of them and gains mass, it will remain a dwarf planet. Eris suffers from the same problem."
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On August 24, 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) came up with the definition for the word "planet", and Pluto did not fit into that category . They noticed that Pluto, and other trans-neptunian objects, were even smaller than Mercury; Mercury has a diameter of over 3,000 miles and Pluto only has just over 2,800 miles in diameter.
So basically the only reason Pluto isn't considered a planet, is because of its size compared to tall of the other planets in our solar system.
Pluto is currently classified as a "dwarf planet". Before 2006 it was considered a full fledged planet until....it was reclassified. The reason is because ever since there have been other objects detected that were comparable in size and structure to Pluto....it was determined that there were too many objects like this to have them all classified as planets.
Even though Pluto is spherical....and does orbit the sun....and does have three moons.....it has not cleared it's orbital path of debris....as the other for-mentioned objects have not also.
Because of this....Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union.
"Pluto is not a planet because it is way too small, and it doesn't meet the necessary requirement needed to be a planet.
The requirements are:
It needs to be in orbit around the sun--Yes, Pluto does orbit the sun.
It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape -- Pluto...check.
It needs to have "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit -- Uh oh. Here's the rule breaker. According to this, Pluto is not a planet.
Here is where Pluto is lacking problems, but what does "cleared its neighborhood" mean? As planets form, they become the dominant gravitational body in their orbit in the Solar System. As they interact with other, smaller objects, they either consume them, or sling them away with their gravity. Pluto is only 0.07 times the mass of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth, in comparison, has 1.7 million times the mass of the other objects in its orbit.
Any object that doesn't meet this 3rd criteria is considered a dwarf planet. And so, Pluto is a dwarf planet. There are still many objects with similar size and mass to Pluto jostling around in its orbit. And until Pluto crashes into many of them and gains mass, it will remain a dwarf planet. Eris suffers from the same problem."
So thus, no, Pluto is not a planet.
According to the current definition of "planet", no, it's not.
There are three requirements for an object to be a planet:
1. It must orbit a star, not a planet or other object.
2. It must have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, which is to say that it must have enough gravity to have coalesced into a roughly spherical shape.
3. It must have "cleared its orbit", which in layman's terms means that there must be no other large objects in its orbit that are not orbiting it.
Pluto meets the first two criteria, but not the third. Therefore, it falls into another class of objects known as "dwarf planets".