IAU Definition of Planet - Reasons For The Debate

Reasons For The Debate

Before the discoveries of the early 21st century, astronomers had no real need for a formal definition for planets. With the discovery of Pluto in 1930, astronomers considered the Solar System to have nine planets, along with thousands of smaller bodies such as asteroids and comets. Pluto was thought to be larger than Mercury.

In 1978, the discovery of Pluto's moon Charon radically changed this picture. By measuring Charon's orbital period, astronomers could accurately calculate Pluto's mass for the first time, which they found to be much smaller than expected. Pluto's mass was roughly one twenty-fifth of Mercury's, making it by far the smallest planet, smaller even than the Earth's Moon, although it was still over ten times as massive as the largest asteroid, Ceres.

In the 1990s, astronomers began finding other objects at least as far away as Pluto, now known as Kuiper Belt objects, or KBOs. Many of these shared some of Pluto's key orbital characteristics and are now called plutinos. Pluto came to be seen as the largest member of a new class of objects, and some astronomers stopped referring to Pluto as a planet. Pluto's eccentric and inclined orbit, while very unusual for a planet in the Solar System, fits in well with the other KBOs. New York City's newly renovated Hayden Planetarium did not include Pluto in its exhibit of the planets when it reopened as the Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000.

Starting in 2000, with the discovery of at least three bodies (Quaoar, Sedna, and Eris) all comparable to Pluto in terms of size and orbit, it became clear that either they all had to be called planets or Pluto would have to be reclassified. Astronomers also knew that more objects as large as Pluto would be discovered, and the number of planets would start growing quickly. They were also concerned about the classification of planets in other planetary systems. In 2006, the matter came to a head with the measurement of the size of 2003 UB₃₁₃. Eris (as it is now known) turned out to be slightly larger than Pluto, and so was thought to be equally deserving of the status of 'planet'.