Pluto Demoted: No Longer A Planet In Highly Controversial Definition

What will this mean in the long run? I suppose it will mean reprinting and rewriting textbooks, children's songs, and other literature related to the planets in our solar system. But really, although the "official" definition has been modified and thus causing Pluto to come up a little short, it is still a significant body of matter orbiting the sun.

I found out the other day that the orbit of Pluto is somewhat unique not just because it takes a couple hundred earth years to orbit the sun but because it is not always the furthest "planet" from the sun. Every so often the orbit of Pluto brings it inside of Neptune and closer to the sun.

The debate apparently is decided by the International Astronomical Union (AIU) and they have the final say when it comes to matters astronomical I guess. The ridiculous part of this debate and vote is that only 5% of the world's astronomers got to vote on the matter (members of the AIU in attendance).

The resolution came up with three main categories for bodies in our solar system

1) Planets: The eight worlds from Mercury to Neptune.

2) Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."

3) Small Solar System Bodies: All other objects orbiting the Sun.

I'm sure this will continue to be an ongoing topic of discussion in astronomist circles in the future. For more, click on the link at the top.