When Is A Planet Not A Planet?

When Is A Planet Not A Planet?

That is the question that is being asked as by "The International Astronomical Union", which meets in Prague this week. They will decide the fate of Pluto, the smallest of our nine planets.

You can see by the picture above that Pluto is the smallest kid on the block as far as the planets go. Discovered in 1930 by Cylde Tombaugh, in Flagstaff, Arizona; Pluto is the only planet to be discovered by the United States.

It seems that there is this thing called the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune, where there are many small icy bodies that orbit the sun. Professor Mike Brown and colleaques at Caltech discovered 2003 UB313 (nicknamed Xena after the warrior princess). They feel that Xena should be promoted to the status of a planet since it is larger than Pluto.

If Pluto is out and Xena is in, then that would open the door for a whole bunch of new planets to make the list. I'm not sure how this will change my life, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Let me know what you think about the dilemma of Pluto. Please leave a comment.