Reopen the debate about Pluto

Pluto still has a chance to be admitted into the solar system's planetary family after receiving a majority of "promotion" votes for it.

>>>5 mysteries about Pluto

Pluto is downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006 after the meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to answer the question: 'What is the planet? ', and found it does not fit the criteria to be called the planet.

Recently, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics decided to host a debate with the participation of three leading experts in planetary science, including Owen Gingerich, Gareth Williams and Dimitar Sasselov.

Pluto is on a small scale over time, with only the number of blocks considered to be 1/459 compared to Earth - (Photo: NASA / ESA)

Each speaker gave his opinion on how to define a planet, thus answering the question: 'Is Pluto the type of planet or not?' Next, the audience voting for their answer is the most reasonable.

The following is a summary of the presentation, according to Phys.Org notes:

The point of Gingerich: Planet is a culturally defined word, changing over time, so Pluto is a planet.

Williams' point: The planet is a spherical object orbiting the sun and has a clear orbit, concluding: Pluto is not a planet.

Sasselov's thesis: The planet is the smallest spherical mass, forming around stars or ruins of stars, so Pluto is the planet.

The majority of the audience chose number 3, which means the crowd watched Pluto as a planet.

Of course, the above vote only follows emotions and if you want to raise the level of Pluto, the astronomical community must convince the IAU to change its perspective.

Before being demoted, Pluto is considered the 9th planet in the solar system.