Back on 24 Aug 2006, the International Astronomical Union, unceremoniously dethroned Pluto from the league of planets. The cold clump of ice and rock swaying in the darkest recesses of our Solar System for the past 4.6 bn years (much longer than the people who want to decide its fate as a planet) may not have taken this to heart but it sure made a few of us, who loved chanting the nine planets of the solar system back in our schools, a bit uneasy.(Read more on Pluto’s Dethronement: 1. http://www.scienceandculture-isna.org/PLANET.htm 2. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-01-12-dwarfplanets12_CV_N.htm?csp=34)
Now, 8 years later, the IAU has decided that they committed a mistake back then, and that Pluto is actually a planet! Lucky for Pluto, it had to wait only 8 years (infinitesimally small considering how long it has already lived!) for the justice to come. (Read on: 1. The Comic Version http://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2014/oct/05/galaxys-guardians-make-the-case-upgrade-pluto-back-to-planet-size 2. Intellectual Version http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2014-25 3. Some Wiki http://www.salon.com/2014/05/29/plutos_big_comeback_why_it_could_be_reclassified_as_a_planet_partner/)
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