On 24th August 2006 the International Astronomical Union (after deciding on a new definition on what can be considered a "planet") reclassified Pluto to a "minor planet".
Why, you ask?
It will take some time for me to explain why, so save time typing out a long explanation, here's a video from CGP Grey that helpfully explains everything you need to know.
Is Pluto a Planet? (2012)
Pluto is an odd-ball of a planet in our traditional model of our Solar System. While every planet beyond Mars is a giant ball of gas, Pluto is a small solid round rock, like a moon. Also, its orbit is at an extreme angle, compared to the other planets....
This scan from Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2001 (2000)
clearly shows Pluto's extreme angle of orbit
And it doesn't help that Pluto is so far away from us. So far away that until last year the best pictures we had of Pluto were blurry blobs at best (as seen in the scan above). It's the celestial equivalent of a poor orphan child.
No wonder many got mad with the decision to reclassify it. Many saw the IAU as a bunch of privileged bullies. It was ugly. How could something so academical as a object reclassification cause so much outrage?
Maybe it is down to the fact that it was discovered in America by an American (a double-whammy for American patriots). Maybe because the idea of calling it after the Roman God of the underworld (because the other planets were named after the other Roman Gods) came from an 11-year-old girl from England (stirring much of the English-speaking world). But I think its mostly because when we were first taught about the Solar System as children some of us to attached to "Lonely Pluto." As recent history shows if you mess with something that is beloved by many people when they were kids you will hear about it.
One man learnt this the hard way. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, became the public face of the "controversy" when he removed Pluto from the Planetarium's model of the Solar System. And since then people still pester him about it. But he didn't take part in the IAU's decisions.
But one guy who was responsible for the decision (and should have been the public face of the debate) is astronomer Michael E. Brown. Mike Brown isn't ashamed about his role. In 2010 he wrote a book called How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. Even though it was him who did the deed, poor Tyson (thanks to his celebrity status since then) still gets the cultural stabs.
But most people who were vocal about the change were people who thought that everything has been turned upside down. You know, those people who thought too much has changed in the world for them to cope. People responsible for scenes like this...
Form episode "Raising Gazorpazorp"
Rick and Morty (2014)
The reclassification of Pluto became a short-cut reference to mark how the "facts" in science can change faster than the average Joe can learn of the changes. I remember it been used in the movie Frankenweenie when the townspeople confront the science teacher Mr. Rzykruski after an incident in the school.
Despite the high amount of protest the IAU's decision of calling Pluto a "minor planet" has stuck.
In July 2015 the New Horizons probe became the first spacecraft from Earth to reach Pluto
and on 13th July it took this now iconic picture....
Pluto, taken by the New Horizons probe (13th July 2015)
This was the first close-up image ever taken of Pluto. It was no blurry blob anymore. And we discovered that it had an interesting feature - the Tombaugh Regio, better known as "The Heart."
Could this have been a ploy by native Plutoians to attract us to Pluto, like Mount Rushmore attracts people to visit South Dakota? Maybe. But what is true is that it didn't take long for the Internet to fall in love with Pluto's heart.
The reclassification issue became a hot topic again soon afterword. Not only did it trigger the debate again culturally, the new data the New Horizons probe sent to NASA has given scientists a lot to chew over .... including the idea that Pluto's reclassifcation may have been a mistake. A mistake bought on due to lack of accurate data at the time.
I don't think this debate will end anytime soon (in 2016). But the fact that this debate became so culturally interesting outside the field of astronomy can be seen as something more significant... Space has become a sexy topic. Not since the days of Carl Sagan we have seen this high interest in space. In the 2010s we are seeing space becoming more accessible to us mortals that ever before.Tech companies (like SpaceX) are developing new spacecraft designed to take fee-paying passengers. Individuals (with some assistance) are sending up balloons to take pictures of the Earth for fun. You can even build your own satellite! At the same time astronomers are discovering more and more exoplanets and (spurred on by this) some serious scientists are pondering the possibilities of life existing outside Earth. What a time to be an astronomer.
And as for Pluto. It'll still be there (unless something happens to it). Whether the debate will continue to the time humans walk on it, we don't know.....
But I can imagine one day sometime in the future,
when interplanetary space travel becomes affordable,
this will happen on Pluto.....
And your not the first person ever to have such an honour Neil.
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