Macassar – Pluto has lost its title as the smallest planet in the solar system. Pluto now does not meet the criteria to be called a planet.
Pluto lost its title not because the size of this planet changed or another smaller planet appeared. But because the designation of the planet is no longer pinned to Pluto.
Reported from detikEduIn 1930, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto and made it the ninth planet in the solar system. However, in 2006 Pluto was no longer classified as a planet.
It could happen due to changes in the definition of a planet. Pluto now does not meet the definition of a planet in this change.
Criterion Called Planet
New rules regarding a planet were adopted from the International Astronomical Union. The following conditions must be met to become a planet:
A planet must be round
A planet must orbit the sun
A planet must clear the neighborhood from its orbit. This means that when a planet moves, its gravity must be able to clear the space around it of other objects. Some of the cleaned objects could crash into the planet or become the moon for the planet.
Why Pluto Is No Longer Called a Planet
Pluto still fulfills the first and second conditions, namely being round and also orbiting the sun. However, Pluto does not meet the third requirement of a planet.
Pluto is unable to clean its orbital environment in a vacuum. Therefore, Pluto finally lost its title as the smallest planet in the solar system.
Nevertheless, Pluto still has another very unique nickname, namely “dwarf planet”. The nickname was given because Pluto has fulfilled two elements to become a planet, but it is still imperfect to become a planet.
Scientists also found that there are five dwarf planets that have been discovered, including Pluto. Scientists certainly hope that more dwarf planets will be discovered in the future.
The dwarf planets in question are beyond Neptune, namely Pluto, Mekamake, Heumea, and Eris. Then the fifth dwarf planet, Ceres, whose existence is known in an asteroid belt located between Jupiter and Mars.
After knowing the reason behind Pluto which is no longer called a planet, also know the following facts that Pluto has:
Pluto is the same size as the moon
Pluto takes 248 earth years to revolve around the Sun. However, Pluto was only discovered in 1930 so that at this time Pluto still takes 150 earth years to complete one trip around the Sun.
Pluto’s location is known to be very far from the Sun. This causes sunlight to take more than five hours to reach Pluto. This time is a very long time considering that sunlight only takes eight minutes to reach Earth.
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