Pluto's status has been a heated debate for decades with arguing over a dwarf planet classification. Here's what international standards say in 2023.

But why isn't Pluto considered a planet anymore? It starts with the definition of a planet — or lack thereof. Before 2006, there weren't strict criteria for a planet.

The search for Planet X The search for Pluto did not begin with Clyde Tombaugh, to be fair. That distinction belongs to the visionary astronomer Percival Lowell.

It orbits Pluto at a distance of just 12,200 miles (19,640 kilometers) – for context our Moon is 20 times farther away from Earth. Pluto and Charon are often referred to as a ‘double planet’ ...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill making Pluto the official state planet. It was discovered at an observatory in Arizona, but was downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006.

Though Pluto has formally been considered a dwarf planet for almost two decades, it still has many lessons left for planetary scientists — including hints about how the solar system formed.

Pluto was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006. So why is its status still so controversial today? When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Pluto was discovered 90 years ago on Feb. 18, 1930, by 24-year-old Clyde Tombaugh. It spent 76 years classified as a planet before being demoted in 2006 to a "dwarf planet" by the International ...

But Pluto’s heritage aside, let’s look at the facts. In 2006, at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague, astronomers voted to “demote” Pluto to dwarf planet status.

Pluto, therefore, is not the gravitationally dominant object in its neighborhood — and thus, not a planet, according to the new definition.