Should Pluto Be Considered A Planet?

Adler Hoffmann Mrs. Rader 8th Grade Language 1 March 2024 Should Pluto be Considered a Planet? Textbooks, websites, school systems, books, acronyms, and more. What do they all have in common? They all had to change in 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) deemed Pluto, the ninth planet in our solar system, as a dwarf planet instead. At that time, this was a controversial decision because a lot of the general public did not want to have to remove Pluto from anything that mentioned the former nine planets because of the inconvenience of changing these things. However, the general public was wrong, and there are plenty of reasons why Pluto should never have been a planet in the first place. Pluto should not be classified as a planet

According to Space.com, “Pluto, the object (then called a planet) was relatively small and had a highly eccentric orbit that sometimes even brought it closer to the Sun than Neptune is” (Howell para 8). This also proves that the orbit of Pluto is very elliptical because it is only sometimes closer to the Sun than Neptune, meaning that Pluto’s orbit cannot be a near perfect circle like the rest of the planets in our solar system. These two pieces of evidence both show that Pluto should not be a planet because its orbit is so elliptical. A third reason why Pluto should not be considered a planet is that it fits the description of a dwarf planet better than a planet. Welcome to the Space! The Dwarf Planet Pluto, “Pluto did not meet the requirements of a regular planet and was reclassified as a dwarf planet” (Lew para 1). This shows that Pluto fits the characteristics of a dwarf planet better than it fits the characteristics of a planet. As stated earlier, Pluto also had debris in its orbit, meaning that not only did Pluto fit the characteristics of a dwarf planet, but it did not fit the characteristics of a normal

The opposing side that claims Pluto should be considered a planet might make the argument that Pluto is a planet because it has many similarities to planets, such as it also being round, having a moon, and orbiting the Sun. However, their argument is not necessarily true. Welcome to the Space! The Dwarf Planet Pluto, the IAU stated that planets must orbit a star, cannot be a moon, have no debris in their orbit, and are round (Howell para 2). Once again, this shows that Pluto is not a planet because Pluto does not clear its neighborhood of debris. Space for the adage! The Dwarf Planet Pluto also states, “The IAU is a group of more than nine thousand scientists from all over the world who study stars, planets, and other objects in space” (Howell para 1). This proves that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is a very reliable source; they know all about the characteristics of planets. Who knows more about planets, a bunch of scientists that study space, or the average