On the basis of the new definition of planet given by the IAU (International Astronomical Union), the world's top institution on space science research, leading astronomers participating in IAU's meet at Prague (Czech Republic) on August 24, 2006, declared that Pluto would no longer remain a planet.
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| Astronomers |
Under the IAU's new guidlines, the number of planets in the Solar System has thus been reduced from nine to eight. Its merits mentioning here that, prior to this decision, Pluto had been holding the planetary status since its discovery in 1930 by Cyde Tombaugh.
Now, with the omission of Pluto from the Solar System, its membership has been restricted to the eight "classical" planets, namely
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupitor, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune.
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| Solar System |
Weeks after it was demoted to a sub-planetary status, Pluto was given a new name to reflect its new status as a dwarf planet in September 2006. The former 9th planet was assigned the asteroid number 134340 by the Minor Planet Centre (MPC), the official organisation responsible for collecting data about asteroids and comets in our Solar System.
