Pluto’s Situation Is As Unstable As Ever...

Back in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that Pluto should no longer be considered a planet, thus leaving only eight generally acknowledged planets.

However, the resolution generated a lot of discussions, as not everyone agreed to it; scientists from all over the world gathered at the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory and reached the conclusion that things are not as black and white as IAU thinks and that a lot more time is needed for understanding all the observable stars and celestial objects.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York's Hayden Planetarium, said the more information is gathered about any given thing, the more tunning must be done to the vocabulary for appropriately describing it. Neil Tyson, who is an astrophysicist, was fine with the reclassification of Pluto as a "dwarf planet" or "plutoid." As Pluto was found to be different than the other eight planets, he expressed his belief that a new system should be put together, one that would respect the level of knowledge science has reached these days.

Mark Sykes of the Arizona-based Planetary Science Institute, agreed that the number of what we consider planets is not important; he said the debate itself is useful and the way it shows that "messy side of science" and the clash of ideas are very positive things.

The debate over Pluto’s status is not a recent one; it began right after its discovery, back in 1930. As more and more information is being compiled, similar changes will surely be implemented in the following years.