Pluto Demoted Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Pluto

Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, making it our solar system's ninth planet. It is a relatively frigid planet that exists outside of Neptune's orbit.

National Pluto Demoted Day is on August 24, and to celebrate, we’re dusting off our telescopes in the spirit of planetary research! After nearly 80 years as an official planet, Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Can you believe it? Since Pluto is not the dominant object in its orbit around the sun, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) determined in 2006 that it could no longer be considered an official planet. Other large bodies, such as Pluto’s moon, are located in its vicinity.

The background of Pluto Demoted Day

Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, making it our solar system’s ninth planet. It is a relatively frigid planet that exists outside of Neptune’s orbit.

After its discovery, the Lowell Observatory received over a thousand name suggestions for the newly discovered planet. Pluto, named after the Roman deity of the underworld, emerged victorious.

In 1992, Pluto’s status as a planet was questioned due to the detection of large objects in its vicinity, including one with a greater mass than Pluto itself. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) reached a consensus on a definition of ‘planet’ that excluded Pluto. Since then, it has been referred to as a ‘dwarf planet.’

A dwarf planet is a celestial body that orbits the sun and has sufficient mass to adopt a nearly spherical shape, but has not cleared the region around its orbit and is not a moon.

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