Pluto, perception & planetary politics. From: Daedalus | Date: January 1, 2007| Author: Jewitt, David; Luu, Jane X. | COPYRIGHT 2007 American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Last summer, in Prague, members of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to remove Pluto from the list of planets. It is not a major planet like our own Earth, or Mars, or Jupiter, they declared; it is instead a 'dwarf planet' along with several other diminutive but approximately round bodies in orbit about the sun. Apparently adding insult to injury, the IAU's Minor Planet Center promptly assigned Pluto a number, as they routinely do for run-of-the-mill asteroids. From ...

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