Once Pluto used to be a planet of solar system. This planet was first discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh. since then, it was considered as the ninth planet of the Solar system but, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union(IAU) declared Pluto as a “Dwarf” in the Solar system.
It’s been more than a decade Pluto is no longer a planet. Now, a group of scientist from NASA, led by Alan Stern proposed a new definition of a planet. If their proposal becomes approved then the Pluto might get it’s planetary status back and there would be more than 100 planets in the Solar system including Moon.
According to the report by Popular Mechanics, IAU defined a Planet as, “A planet is 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 hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.”
NASA’s former associate administrator and principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, Alan Stern found some flaws in several ways at the definition of Planet.Stern is claiming that the definition only recognizes as planets those which orbit Sun. He defined the definition as “bulls**t”. Mail Online reported that Stern and his team will submit their final proposal at the Lunar and planetary Science Conference in March.
Researchers explained that the old parameters could not satisfy all of the planets in solar system. They are claiming the new definition would meet the needs of both scientific classification and people's intuition.
Alan and his team defined a planet as a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone nuclear fusion and has sufficient self-gravity which keeps them in a spheroidal shape which is adequately described by a triaxial ellipsoid regardless of its orbital parameters. After a massive success in New Horizon space mission, it’s been cleared to all scientists that Pluto is not a cold dead space rock but a wonderful and fascinating place to be considered as a planet.
Under the definition, the watery moons of Jupiter and Saturn could attain the planethood. Although, it is not the first time scientists have spoken out for Pluto’s Planetary status. But the true fact is, nothing will change until the IAU change their decision.
