A new research paper argues that Pluto should be a planet again. Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida, pored over two centuries of scientific literature and found that the basis for demoting Pluto was found in only one paper from way back in 1802. That standard required a planet to be the largest gravitational force in its orbit. However, Metzger argued the definition is sloppy and unclear and needs to be revised.
"The IAU definition would say that the fundamental object of planetary science, the planet, is supposed to be defined on the basis of a concept that nobody uses in their research," Metzger said in a statement on the University of Central Florida website.
Pluto was downgraded by the International Astronomical Union in 2006 to a dwarf planet because there are other frozen objects out in the far reaches of the solar system. The report is published in the journal Icarus.
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