All articles tagged with #iau
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman signaled support for restoring Pluto’s status as a planet and suggested escalating the discussion within the scientific community, a move that has sparked division among researchers who question whether such a decision should come from NASA or require international consensus and the IAU, especially given Pluto-sized objects and the IAU criteria for planets.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told a Senate hearing he supports reconsidering Pluto’s status as a planet, reviving the decades-long debate after the IAU downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006. The discussion centers on Pluto’s location in the Kuiper Belt and its failure to clear its orbit, one of the IAU’s criteria for a full planet, with Isaacman signaling ongoing research that could prompt broader scientific discussion—though the final call rests with the IAU.
Barry Petchesky argues that despite Trump’s desire to have Pluto reclassified as a planet, the IAU’s 2006 definition creating the dwarf-planet category stands, and cannot be overturned by executive action or NASA funding tactics; Pluto remains scientifically a dwarf planet with a fascinating history and features, regardless of its label.
During a Senate budget hearing, NASA chief Jared Isaacman said he supports revisiting Pluto’s status and intends to push a proposal through the scientific community to restore Pluto to planet status, though the final decision lies with the IAU, which downgraded Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006; New Horizons imagery of Pluto’s varied geology has fueled renewed calls from Pluto advocates, including Isaacman who took the NASA helm in December.
A Tampa fourth grader wrote to NASA asking Pluto be restored to planet status, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman replied, “Kaela, we are looking into this.” While NASA has signaled support for reconsidering Pluto’s status, the final decision rests with the International Astronomical Union, which reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006 after criteria that it must clear its orbit. The story highlights a decades-long controversy over Pluto’s classification, aided by New Horizons findings of Pluto’s geology and activity and the idea that scientific labels require international consensus rather than unilateral action by any single agency.
Three astronomers have proposed a new mass-based definition of a planet that would include thousands of exoplanets, challenging the current International Astronomical Union (IAU) definition which only applies to bodies orbiting the sun. The new definition suggests that a planet should be classified based on its mass, specifically if it is lighter than 13 Jupiters, to avoid ambiguities related to shape and orbit. This proposal aims to address the limitations of the current definition and will be presented at the IAU General Assembly.
Scientists from UCLA propose a new definition of a planet that extends beyond our solar system, challenging the current IAU definition. Their criteria include specific mass limits and gravitational influence, aiming to provide a universal classification for celestial bodies. This new definition could clarify distinctions between planets and dwarf planets and better accommodate exoplanets.