Pluto remains one of the great generational divides of our time; you either grew up learning about the nine planets of the solar system, or you had an eight-planet childhood like a loser (jk). Although it\u2019s been 20 years since Pluto was overthrown as the ninth planet, the debate over its status still strikes a nerve among dedicated fans of the adorable world.<\/p>\n
This week, the debate over Pluto\u2019s official status is once again making the rounds in the news after NASA administrator Jared Isaacman revealed where he stands on the issue. During a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, Isaacman shared his thoughts on Pluto, saying that he is \u201cvery much in the camp of \u2018make Pluto a planet again.’\u201d<\/p>\n
The NASA chief\u2019s remarks reignited the long-held debate over whether astronomers should rethink their decision of demoting Pluto to a dwarf planet, an opinion that some people just can\u2019t seem to let go of.<\/p>\n
Planetary downgrade <\/p>\n
Beyond its planetary classification, Pluto is a complex and mysterious world with valleys, glaciers, mountains, plains, and craters. It lies about 3.6 billion miles away from the Sun, and its frigid temperatures can reach -387 degrees Fahrenheit (-232 degrees Celsius), according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 using imagery captured by Lowell Observatory in Arizona. After its discovery, Pluto became known as the ninth planet of the solar system.<\/p>\n Pluto was still much smaller than its solar system neighbors, measuring at about 1,400 miles wide (2,253 kilometers). That\u2019s about half the width of the United States. It wasn\u2019t until the discovery of similar objects beyond the orbit of Neptune that Pluto\u2019s classification came into question.<\/p>\n The Kuiper Belt is a doughnut-shaped region of icy bodies that extends far beyond Neptune\u2019s orbit, containing left-over remnants from the early construction of the solar system. As scientists learned more about the Kuiper Belt in the 1990s, they found other small, icy worlds that resembled Pluto. This list includes Eris<\/a>, Haumea<\/a>, Makemake<\/a>, Quaoar<\/a>, and Orcus<\/a>, among other dwarf planets.<\/p>\n In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) agreed on a new, more specific definition of a planet, dictating that it must orbit the Sun, be roughly spherical in shape, and have to clear its orbit of debris.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Pluto, it is located in the trans-Neptunian region (a part of the solar system beyond Neptune), where it shares its orbital neighborhood with many other Kuiper Belt objects of similar size. Pluto doesn\u2019t gravitationally dominate and clear this region, so it failed the IAU\u2019s third criterion for planetary status. As a result, the IAU demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet.<\/p>\n Sorry, Pluto <\/p>\n Although the decision was purely scientific, it left a long-lasting emotional impact on some of those who grew up learning about the nine planets of the solar system.<\/p>\n There is an understandable attachment to Pluto as an underdog, a tiny world cast out into the farther regions of our star system and left behind. Pluto is also famous for having a giant, heart-shaped feature north of the equator, which makes the fan connection to the adorable, tiny world a little harder to deny.<\/p>\n