Obscure days of the year tickle the UnCOVered writers sometimes. And when we found out we had a ‘space’ enthusiast in our midst, we did the only fair thing… Make her write all about everyone’s favourite holiday: Pluto Demoted Day.
An astronomer, Clyde W. Tambaugh, discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. (Yay!)
But did you know, today marks 10 years since Pluto was demoted to ‘Dwarf Planet’ status?
Why did it get demoted?
Put simply, because the definition of a planet changed. So Pluto is pretty much the same as it’s always been, just not good enough anymore.
Really and truly, a planet is supposed to be round in shape, orbit the sun, and have “cleared the neighbourhood” of its orbit. Pluto is round and does orbit the sun, but unfortunately it hasn’t cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit. Why don’t you just move Pluto?!
Pluto has, however, moved on to bigger and better things. After it’s demotion, Pluto has come to be regarded as King of the Dwarf Planets. Better to be king of an awesome group of mini planets, than laughed at by the bigger kids, we always say.
Now, what is a dwarf planet you say?
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) define it as ‘a celestial body in direct orbit of the Sun that is big enough with its shape controlled by gravitational forces rather than mechanical forces and has not cleared its neighbouring region of other objects’ – It does the same things as other planets but just doesn’t move.
Here’s a fun fact for you:
Pluto, the Disney character, was created in the same year that Pluto, the (dwarf) planet, was discovered.
Happy Pluto Demoted Day! You love it now too right? 🙂
