« Who's researching social network sites? | Main | It's official: our exuberance is once again irrational »

Pluto demoted

Asronomers demoted Pluto today from planet to "dwarf planet."

The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.

That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing.

jon posted this at 12:03 PM
Share on Facebook| email to a friend

 Subscribe to RSS feed for Weblogsky