Did You Know, Pluto is No Longer a "Planet"?

Pluto has been the 9th planet of our solar system for quite some time. But now a recent recommendation over its renaming has turned up lot of dust. The debate continues whether Pluto is a planet or not. It now seems like a case of Rose called by another name.

What is the new definition of a planet?

According to the astronomers of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) a heavenly body is a planet if

1) The heavenly (celestial) body orbits around the sun; and

2) Has sufficient mass to become round

3) Should have cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

How is Pluto different?

Pluto is too small to clear the orbit by itself of various other similar size bodies around it called the Kuiper belt of many Pluto-size objects. And thus it does not fit the definition any more.

The small debris close to the center of Solar system are called "asteroids" and there is similar small collection of debris (around 1,000 in number) beyond Neptune(Post-Neptunian bodies). They have to have a name like asteroids have. It is widely called as the Kuiper belt of bodies and Pluto seems to be just one among them. There are bodies bigger than Pluto which have been seen.

What is the debate all about?

Pluto, thus, classifies among the debris by the virtue of what it lacks------size. The debris can not be named Pluto, so the name of Pluto needs to be changed now. The group of astronomers at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) have stumbled upon this idea of renaming it as "dwarf-planet" and to them it sounds like a good trade off. According to recent reports in Scientific American, some say it is a "Linguistic disaster" as it still fails to answer the question," Is Pluto a Planet?"

Interestingly in a glaring case of "debate begets debate", another body called UB313 has been discovered beyond Neptune, which is apparently larger than Pluto. Is this the 10th Planet? It still stays the same, conceptually; but the way we have been raised, it has etched deep in our minds as one of the revered planets. We tend to have a natural regard for the word "Planet", for our Mother Earth is one. The long cherished faith is shaken when Pluto is written off as a planet by a group of Astronomers apparently endowed with "terrestrial" abilities and a "human" origin like any of us. The unexpected loss in consistency and that too for reason cited as the absence of an ability to clear the orbit; all sound very unconvincing. It seems to be merely a matter of nomenclature. Moreover, the new name "Dwarf Planet" does not quite successfully explain its proposed dissimilarity with the rest of them.

The message is clear, any debate arising out this linguistic ritual seems to be quietly saying," friends, lets not quibble over semantics...