As of yesterday, 8/24/06, Pluto has been demoted as a planet by the International Astronimcal Union in a decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries! It's now a dwarf planet, and we now only have 8 planets in the solar system. Ha ha?

Well, this news comes after a week plus of debating of what a planet is, which was brought on by when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have [url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/16/new.planets.ap/index.html] reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status[/url] and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects. The International Astronimcal Union is the leading body of professional astronomers in the world, composed of nearly 10,000 members (most with Ph.Ds), including 63 member countries. The resolution laying out the new planetary definition was passed by vote.

Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena." Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation

The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a "planet" is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. So Pluto phailed 3.

The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun -- "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.