"I 100% support President Trump making Pluto great again. I think we owe it to everyone from Kansas and all their great contributions to astronomy and aerospace to rightfully restore that discovery to a planet."
"Pluto may have been discovered by an American, but that doesn't mean President Trump controls its planetary status. That power falls to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which decided two decades ago that Pluto doesn't meet the criteria to be a planet."
"It may orbit the Sun and be large enough to form a nearly round shape—two of the three qualifications for planetary status, according to NASA—but it 'has not been able to clear its orbit of debris,' the IAU's 2006 resolution stated."
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has expressed support for restoring Pluto's planetary status, which was revoked 20 years ago. Isaacman argues that Pluto deserves recognition as a planet due to its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh, a Kansas-based astronomer who identified it in 1930. The International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto in 2006 because it fails to meet all planetary criteria, specifically its inability to clear its orbit of debris. While Pluto satisfies two of three requirements—orbiting the Sun and maintaining a nearly round shape—the IAU's decision remains the governing standard for planetary classification.
#pluto-planetary-status #nasa-administrator #international-astronomical-union #planetary-classification-criteria #astronomy-history
Read at Fast Company
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