Scientists launch campaign to restore Pluto to the planet club.

Scientists launch campaign to restore Pluto to the planet club.

THE NEWS :

(i) A team of scientists seeking to restore Pluto to planethood launched a campaign to broaden the astronomical classifications which led to its demotion to a “dwarf planet” a decade ago.
(ii) Six scientists from institutions across the United States argued that Pluto deserves to be a full planet, along with some 110 other bodies in the solar system, including Earth’s moon.
(iii) The scientists explained that geological properties, such as shape and surface features, should determine what constitutes a planet.

BACKGROUND :

(a) In 2006, the International Astronomical Union, struggling with how to classify a newly discovered icy body beyond Pluto, adopted a definition for a planet based on characteristics that include clearing other objects from its orbital path.
(b) Pluto and its newfound kin in the solar system’s distant Kuiper Belt region were reclassified as dwarf planets, along with Ceres (the biggest object in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter).

THE TWILIGHT ZONE :

1. Pluto is the biggest object in the icy Kuiper Belt, also known as the third zone after the inner rocky planets and outer gaseous giants.
2. It’s also called the Twilight Zone because of its great distance from the sun.
3. The Kuiper Belt (pronounced KIE-per) is full of comets and other small frosty objects.