It's Official - From the BBC news site

I know Wolverine has mentioned the passing of resolution 5A on another thread, but for the announcement would it be an idea to use this thread?

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yep... just read the story on yahoo.com

amazing... poor poor pluto

Note: extra O removed from thread title.

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Fame, glory adventure, a cyber warrior craves not these things.

MSNBC: Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet

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In Fallout 3, 'happiness' is a warm junkyard dog and a loaded gun. It's mostly the loaded gun.
- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

Although `roundish`, it is clearly not a planet.

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`Irony` actually does mean `metal like`...

Looks as if science won over popular opinion. T'was Xena that killed Pluto.

That's progress folks, time to accept the decision and move on. I wonder if a ninth planet is out there and when this debate will flare up again.....

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

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No, it (along with Charon) is a Kuiper belt object, the same as Sedna, the same as 'Xena' etc.

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

Pluto and other would-be planets are now called "dwarf planets". Everything else (not counting satellites) are "small solar system bodies".

Ah, Resolution 6A passed: Pluto and "Pluto's Pals" officially form a new type of trans-Neptunian objects.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Sorry - 'Trans Neptunian Objects' or as we've been calling them for years, 'Kuiper Belt Objects'!

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

No, dwarf planets (Pluto, 2003 UB313, etc.) that orbit beyond Neptune form a new class of objects.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

I'm confused. If the definition is:
“a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”
Then what does the overlapping orbit have to do with it?
Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.
Is that because it hasn't cleared Neptune from it's orbit? I think a better explaination is in order.

It was unclear how Pluto’s demotion might affect the mission of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9½-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

Yep; the science of Pluto isn't valid anymore.

Charon, the largest of Pluto’s three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.

Is Charon still considered a moon if Pluto isn't a planet? Is there a definition of a moon? (that'll probably be the next controversy)

Resolution 6B not passed, i.e. they're not officially called "Plutonian objects".

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Pluto is not a planet, nor is Charon. The definition of a satellite remains open, as well the definition of planets beyond the Solar System.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Live webcast here for what's left of the business.

Yes, you're quite right - apologies. I think its a bit of a fudge myself. 'Is it a planet'? Well no, it is a 'dwarf' planet.

Is a Dwarf star not a real star then?

I don't think it resolves much. It certainly doesn't detract from the fact that Pluto is a system which we should try and find out as much as possible about.

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

So will NASA cancel New Horizons whilst it is in flight and save the money for