Pluto demoted as astronomers approve new definition
24/08/2006 - 14:34:44Leading astronomers approved historic new planet guidelines at a meeting in the Czech Republic today, downsizing Earth’s neighbourhood from nine principal heavenly bodies to eight by demoting distant and dinky Pluto.
After a tumultuous week of clashing in Prague over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930.
The new definition of what is, and isn’t, a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have laboured since Copernicus without one.
