The support of furious teenagers and astronomers alike has made the “dwarf-planet” a contestant in redeeming its former status, a whole eight years after being demoted. However, the big question still stands: is Pluto a planet?

The former ninth planet in our solar system was officially demoted to its current status back in 2006. An article on Space.com from August 24, 2006 stated, “Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved today to demote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planet-hood that is being billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic and cultural influences. But already the decision is being hotly debated. Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.” Destroying the hearts of millions, this decision was made based on the definition and qualifications a planet needs in order to rightfully remain a planet.

These qualifications are limited to:

• A celestial body that is in orbit around the sun.
• Round (or nearly round)
• Has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit, meaning it is not surrounded by objects of similar size and characteristics.

Pluto passes the first two qualifications with no problem, but the third has astronomers around our own planet debating. The small planet has several other “Dwarf-planets” around it including Eris, which is even larger than Pluto. It is about one fifth the size of Earth with a radius of about 750 miles. Another area for discussion involves the overlapping of Neptune’s orbit with its own multiple times.

The next International Astronomical Union meeting is in August of next year, 2015, in Honolulu, Hawaii, where the topic will prospectively be discussed again, but for now there is no dire need from astronomers to pursue a debate over a small planet whose home is unalterably about 4.67 billion miles from Earth. Yet, teenage angst over the galactic object with the name of a cartoon dog still lingers. In other big news for Pluto, according to recent NASA project, space probe New Horizons was launched on January 9th, 2006 before Pluto was “laid-off” and should hopefully perform a flyby of the Pluto on July 14, 2015. This will hopefully collect new photos of the dwarf-planet from close up and allow scientists to examine the surface more in-depth than before.

New Horizons launched its mission in 2006.  Pluto was demoted just after the mission launch.  And now, a year before New Horizons passes its target for observation, Pluto’s planetary status is in question. Maybe by the time it reaches its goal, July 2015, Pluto will have regained proper place as planet number 9. Never give up on your childhood dreams.  Pluto’s planet-hood advocates surely haven’t.