AntBlog701: bye bye Pluto; Xena did not make into the list

27 August, 2006

bye bye Pluto; Xena did not make into the list

Pluto Not Disney's Pluto (as shown on the right) is leaving us, but the planet Pluto is being downgraded to dwarf planet. Pluto was stripped of its status as a planet on Thursday when astronomers from around the world redefined it as a "dwarf planet", leaving just eight major planets in the solar system.

Planet, now dwarf planet, Pluto was discovered in 1930 by an American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto has traditionally been considered the ninth planet, farthest from the sun in the solar system. However, the definition of a planet approved after a heated debate among 2,500 scientists from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) meeting in Prague drew a clear distinction between Pluto and the other eight planets.

Pluto got demoted to “dwarf planet” status along with another former planet called “Ceres” and the recently discovered 2003 UB₃₁₃, nicknamed “Xena”.

Xena Xena (2003 UB₃₁₃) was larger than Pluto, and was in hope that it would be the tenth planet of our solar system, since the vote on Thursday, 2003 UB₃₁₃ is the largest dwarf planet.

It is also reported that 2003 UB₃₁₃ (nicknamed “Xena”)'s moon has a nickname “Gabrielle” (of course!), Warrior Princess' sidekick.

Disney's Pluto will be still available in Disneyland.

Our solar system now has 8 planets, the orders are (from Sun): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Related news articles:
Pluto can still be in our gang: Seven Dwarfs (Yahoo! News)
Pluto no longer classed as a planet (Yahoo!7 News, aap)
Xena Awarded "Dwarf Planet" Status (Spacedaily)

Posted by Antony on 27 August 2006 8:11 AM | newstalk

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Tags: planet, Pluto, solar, system, Xena

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comments

how can pluto suddenly no longer be a planet? its been part of our solar system for who knows how long? what defines a planet anyways?
Posted by ummerz on 4 September 2006 9:43 PM.

Pluto was actually discovered by Percival Laurence!
Posted by NoName on 16 October 2006 4:23 AM.

@ummerz: Here are the three points that define a planet:
It must orbit a star but not be a star
It must be heavy enough for its own gravity to make it spherical
It must clear its neighbourhood of debris Pluto and the other dwarf planets do not fulfill requirment
Posted by NoName on 16 October 2006 4:27 AM.

Oops, it didnt show the parts, here it is again @ummerz: Here are the three points that define a planet:
1) It must orbit a star but not be a star
2) It must be heavy enough for its own gravity to make it spherical
3) It must clear its neighbourhood of debris Pluto and the other dwarf planets do not fulfill requirment (3)
Posted by NoName on 16 October 2006 4:29 AM.

bye bye Pluto; Xena did not make into the listfrom AntBlog701

27 August, 2006

bye bye Pluto; Xena did not make into the list

bye bye Pluto; Xena did not make into the list
from AntBlog701