Pluto loses planet statusPosted Aug 24, 2006 at 08:30AM by Kyle M. Listed in: News, Astronomy Tags: Pluto, Neptune, The Eight, BBC, IAU, Prague
For many people it was inevitable, but we still didn't think it would have happened...now it has. 2,500 astronomers who met in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly have demoted Pluto's planet status. Who would have thought that in your science lessons that in the future our solar system would have less planets?Rather than vote that our solar system contained 12 planets (including the discovery of 2003 UB313 by Professor Mike Brown), the IAU voted that Pluto should be demoted and that our solar system contains 8 planets. "The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," said the IAU resolution, which was passed following a week of intense debate. Pluto has been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930 by the American Clyde Tombaugh, but now it appears that Pluto will have to be ripped out from school textbooks after the IAU resolution. In remembrance of the planet Pluto, here are a few facts that BBC News put together:
Named after the underworld god
Average Sun distance: 5.9bn km
Orbits Sun every 248 years
Has at least three moons
Rotates every 6.8 days
Gravity about 6% of Earth's
Surface temperature -233C
NASA probe visits in 2015

taken from http://science.qj.net/