Planet Pluto, 1930 - 2006
You won't exactly find it on the obituary but the International Astronomical Union announced Pluto's demise last Thursday.
It seems that the small planet has failed to pass the specifications of being a planet raised by the astronomers. According to the International Astronomical Union, one has to be "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit" in order to be categorized as a planet. It appears to be that Pluto has failed these specifications, thus, it has been demoted to that of a "dwarf planet."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment