Right, I’ve never agreed with the reclassification. It has every appearance that the IAU (Int’l Astronomical Union) adopted a resolution defining ‘planet’ that was specifically drawn up to exclude Pluto. It stinks. It’s how liberals work.
That said, size wasn’t one of the criteria. The critical clause in the resolution, as far as Pluto is concerned, says that in order for an object to be a planet, it must have swept up most of the other objects in its orbit. The Earth has a mass that is over a million times greater than the combined mass of all the other things in Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Pluto’s mass only accounts for a few percent of all the other things in its orbit. But like I said, that criterion is a totally made up one designed specficially to exclude Pluto, imho.
Ah - thanks a bunch. It’s all clear to me now.
8^)