![\"Pluto.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_295258997-4e93.jpg\")
\n\t\tPluto is not a planet; it\u2019s a \u2018dwarf planet\u2019 (Picture: Getty Images\/Science Photo Libra)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tPluto is not a planet; it\u2019s a \u2018dwarf planet\u2019 (Picture: Getty Images\/Science Photo Libra)<\/p>\n
About 20 years ago, leading astronomers decided that Pluto was too small to be a planet<\/a>, undoubtedly giving it a Napoleonic complex. <\/p>\n But Nasa\u2019s top official came out with a new rallying cry on Tuesday: Make Pluto Great Again. <\/p>\n Well, kind of. The US<\/a> space agency\u2019s administrator, Jared Isaacman,\u00a0told a Senate committee that he wants lil Pluto to be reclassified<\/a> as a planet.<\/p>\n He added: \u2018We are doing some papers right now on, I think, a position that we would love to escalate through the scientific community to revisit this discussion.\u2019<\/p>\n Isaacman made the comments after telling a 10-year-old that Nasa is \u2018looking into\u2019 giving Pluto a planetary promotion. <\/p>\n Kaela \u2013 We are looking into this.<\/p>\n \u2014 NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Despite being the chief of Nasa, this isn\u2019t something Isaacman can casually do. Instead, it\u2019s up to the International Astronomical Union.<\/p>\n The union is the world\u2019s largest professional body for astronomers, meaning that all Nasa can do is push for experts to reconsider Pluto.<\/p>\n Isaacman\u2019s predecessor, Jim Bridensteine, even joked at Tuesday\u2019s NYSE Space Summit: \u2018You\u2019ve all been lied to. Pluto is a planet.\u2019<\/p>\n But don\u2019t expect this to happen anytime soon, said IAU\u2019s press coordinator Ramasamy Venugopal.<\/p>\n \u2018We understand that many people feel Pluto was \u2018demoted; but in fact, Pluto became the leading object of a new family of solar system bodies,\u2019 he told Metro.<\/p>\n \u2018Scientific classifications are determined through international consensus and evidence-based processes. While they are not subject to unilateral change, they can be amended if the supporting evidence changes.\u2019<\/p>\n Why is Pluto not a planet?<\/p>\n \t\t Pluto was originally classified as the ninth planet in our solar system <\/a>after its discovery in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. <\/p>\n It was named after the Greek<\/a> god of the underworld\u00a0by an 11-year-old English girl named Venetia Burney.<\/p>\n But union astronomers thought this icy, barren orb about 3,000,000,000 miles away doesn\u2019t fit their definition of planethood. <\/p>\n In 2006, the union voted that there are three conditions that a celestial object must meet to be counted as a planet: <\/p>\n the object orbits the sun <\/p>\n it is large enough for its gravity to pull it into a round shape<\/p>\n and it \u201chas cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit\u2019.<\/p>\n By \u2018cleared the neighbourhood\u2019, astronomers mean it has ploughed through all the cosmic dirt and snow orbiting the sun to make a clear path. <\/p>\n This is the condition Pluto falls short on \u2013 it is located in a ring of ice known as the Kuiper Belt \u2013 so they gave it the new term, \u2018dwarf planet\u2019.<\/p>\n It is, after all, only about 1,400 miles wide \u2013 or half the width of the US. <\/p>\n Demoting Pluto caused immediate uproar in the scientific world \u2013 300 scientists signed a petition against the solar system\u2019s B-list\u00a0a week later.<\/p>\n University of Arizona planetary scientist Dave Tholen told the media at the time that the IAU\u2019s definition was too vague. <\/p>\n Out of the 3,000 space experts that met in Prague<\/a> to cast a vote, only 500 were eligible to do so, he said. <\/p>\n \u2018This is about as big a brouhaha in the astronomical world as I can recall,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s one of the most passionate discussions I\u2019ve witnessed.\u2019<\/p>\n Four other dwarf planets have since been discovered, including Ceres<\/a>, a larger-than-average rock among hundreds of thousands of rocks in the asteroid<\/a> belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow \t\t\tComments \t\t\t\tAdd as preferred source \t\t\t\tNews Updates<\/p>\n Stay on top of the headlines with daily email updates.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_88796591-933b.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Solar System\u2019s eight planets \u2013 Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune \u2013 with Pluto at the end (Picture: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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