Don’t how I missed this, but apparently the Solar System’s outermost “member”, Pluto, together with co-dwarf planet Eris, have now been deemed “plutoids” rather than planets.
I know Pluto lost its status as a fully-fledged planet sometime ago, but it seems I’m not the only one miffed by the new plutoid designation…
Last week, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) designated Pluto and its cousin Eris as “plutoids”. “It sounds like ‘haemorrhoids’,” says Alan Stern, who is chief scientist for NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. He says that planetary scientists have been left out of the IAU’s decision-making. Now these scientists will get the chance to present arguments for and against at “The Great Planet Debate” in August at Laurel, Maryland.
