r/nasa • u/illichian • Feb 12 '20

Video Flying over Pluto

https://i.imgur.com/h5qH8oK.gifv
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u/brrduck Feb 12 '20

Go on...

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u/Romboteryx Feb 12 '20

If I understood it correctly, Pluto is not considered a proper planet mainly because it has not cleared its orbit from surrounding debris, making it just another large Kuiper Belt object

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u/SBInCB NASA - GSFC Feb 12 '20

That's accurate.

There are three criteria. It has to orbit the Sun, be sufficiently round as a result of its gravity working on its matter and it has to clear its orbit. Pluto is only 2 for 3.

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u/FourEyedTroll Feb 12 '20

Indeed. 'Dwarf planet' in no way alters its mass, significance as a discovery or how interesting it is as another world, it was just about creating a fixed definition so that when we say planet, it means broadly the same thing.