The Strange Case of Pluto

The NASA Administrator announced his support for restoring Pluto's planetary status, stating that scientific studies are being prepared to be presented to the international astronomical community.

The debate over how to define Pluto has just been rekindled after 20 years. During a hearing before the US Senate Budget Committee, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman declared that Pluto should be returned to the list of planets in the Solar System. He also revealed that NASA is preparing scientific studies to lobby the international astronomical community to reconsider the 2006 decision.

Pluto in the galaxy

"We are working on several papers regarding the position we want to present to the scientific community to restart this discussion," Isaacman stated at the hearing.

Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930 and was recognized as the ninth planet of the Solar System for 76 years. However, everything changed in 2006 when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a new definition of a planet with 3 criteria: it must orbit the Sun, be spherical in shape, and must have cleared its orbit of other celestial bodies.

Pluto passed the first two criteria but failed the third because it is located in the Kuiper belt, where many celestial bodies of similar size coexist. As a result, the IAU downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet.