Is Pluto a Planet?

Is Pluto a Planet?

Scientists disagree on whether Pluto is a planet or a big ball of ice. Here's Ben's summary of the arguments for and against, based on information from an article by David Holtzman in Smithsonian Magazine. For more information, see Ben's Far-Out Facts about Pluto.

(By the way, the background of this page comes from http://graffiti.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr/MAPBX/roussel/planets/welcome/pluto.shtml. It's an image of Pluto and Charon taken by the Hubble space telescope!)

Reasons to agree that Pluto is a planet

  1. Pluto is very large compared to comets.
  2. It seems to have a core and a mantle.
  3. It has a moon (named Charon) orbiting it.
  4. It sometimes has an atmosphere.

Reasons to agree that Pluto is not a planet

  1. It is very close to the Kuiper Belt.
  2. It has a strange orbit compared to the other 8 planets.
  3. It is too small to be a planet.

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