why do scientists think that pluto should not be considered a planet?
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Answer. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one—it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.”
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At its most distant, when the two bodies are on the opposite sides of the sun from one another, Pluto lies 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. At their closest, the two are only 2.66 billion miles (4.28 billion km) apart.
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Pluto is not considered to be a Jovian planet because it is a relatively small terrestrial body, rather than a large, gaseous planet.
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Chemical composition: Pluto probably consists of a mixture of 70 percent rock and 30 percent water ice. Internal structure: The dwarf planet probably has a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice, with more exotic ices such as methane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen ice coating the surface.
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Because it has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, Pluto is considered a dwarf planet. It orbits in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper belt, a distant region populated with frozen bodies left over from the solar system's formation.
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Pluto's active geology and dynamism is what allows for it to have an interior ocean, a multilayered atmosphere, organic compounds and evidence of ancient lakes and multiple moons. According to Metzger, the only planet that has more complex geology is planet Earth.
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When Pluto was discovered 80 years ago, we never could have expected the variety of objects in the Solar System. Categorizing Pluto as a dwarf planet helps us better describe our celestial home. So, our Solar System now has eight planets, and five dwarf planets.
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On average, Pluto is a distance of 39.5 astronomical units, or AU, from the sun. That is almost 40 times farther from the sun than Earth is. Because of its elliptical orbit, Pluto is not the same distance from the sun all the time. Pluto's closest point to the sun is 29.7 AU.
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So inconspicuous that it was not discovered until 1930, Pluto is not a gas giant planet like all the others in the outer solar system. Instead it is a small, rocky world about the size of Earth's Moon. Recent examinations of old photographs, combined with new observations, indicate that Pluto itself has a moon.
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After 1992, its status as a planet was questioned following the discovery of several objects of similar size in the Kuiper belt. In 2005, Eris, a dwarf planet in the scattered disc which is 27% more massive than Pluto, was discovered. ... That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet.
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The Man Who Killed Pluto: Q & A with Astronomer Mike Brown. Caltech researcher Mike Brown led the team that found the dwarf planet Eris in 2005. The discovery helped spur astronomers to rethink the definition of "planet," and ultimately strip Pluto of its planethood. Mike Brown is best known as the man who killed Pluto ...
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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a dwarf planet because it did not meet the three criteria the IAU uses to define a full-sized planet. Essentially Pluto meets all the criteria except one—it “has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects.”
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After reclassification in 2005, Pluto is no longer classified as a planet because it: Pluto's gravity has not cleared its orbit of other matter and therefore it no longer fits the modern definition of a planet. Earth is round because: ... They orbit between Mars and Jupiter.
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Terms in this set (5) In 2006, Pluto was demoted a dwarf planet because it does not clear its own path around the sun. pluto passes through the orbit of neptune. Characteristics: Haumea is a dwarf planet that orbits the sun far beyond neptune. It is about the same size as Pluto and has two moons.
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Pluto (minor planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is an icy dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was the first and the largest Kuiper belt object to be discovered. ... That definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a dwarf planet.
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Pluto was the planet furthest away from the Sun and also the coldest. However, Pluto was declassified as a planet in 2006 and is now known as a dwarf planet.
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Just outside of Neptune's orbit is a ring of icy bodies. We call it the Kuiper Belt. It's pronounced ky-purr. This is where you'll find dwarf planet Pluto.