Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pluto the Dwarf Planet?

It's official. According to astronomers from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Pluto is no longer a planet. Our Solar System now contains eight planets, not nine. These planets are in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Pluto is officially the first of many newly named and defined Dwarf Planets or planetoids. The newly created category of Dwarf Planets also includes Ceres and 2003 UB313. The IAU's 2006 contentious conference in Prague created the new definition of Dwarf Planets in anticipation of the future discovery of more planetoids beyond Pluto.