9 Things The New Horizon Probe Has Taught Us About Pluto
7. Its Unlikely To Get Its Planet Status Back
Sorry, Pluto fans, but despite the confirmation of Pluto's larger volume, it looks unlikely at this point that Pluto will be reinstated as a fully grown "proper" planet, no doubt much to the internet's dismay. There are three criteria that a celestial body must meet to be classified as a planet, these are:
The object must be in orbit around the Sun The object must be massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity. More specifically, its own gravity should pull it into a shape of hydrostatic equilibrium (that's a posh way of saying spherical and stable) It must have cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit Where Pluto falls down is at that last hurdle. Even if it is the largest object in its neighbourhood by volume, it (a) is only the second largest by mass and (b) has failed to clear its orbit of the likes of that pesky Eris, meaning that Pluto is still not quite there in terms of being a "real planet".