Pluto has its new name
Posted by aileen on
June 13, 2008
In 2006, Pluto was stripped of its planethood and now the IAU (International Astronomical Union) have decided to use the term “plutoids” to be its new name and that of other small round objects or dwarf planets in the solar system.
“Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighborhood around their orbit.”
In short: small round things beyond Neptune that orbit the sun and have lots of rocky neighbors.
