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2006-08-14 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mdlbearPluto faces expulsion from planetary league | The Register
My personal guess is that they'll set the size limit just low enough to allow Pluto, and add something about it not being a satellite of some other planet (otherwise the Moon would qualify) and with a reasonably circular orbit reasonably close to the ecliptic. (The values of "reasonably" being chosen, again, to allow Pluto.)
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has gathered in Prague to finally settle a matter of galactic import: whether Pluto is in fact a planet or should be relegated to the second division of Kuiper Belt Objects and similar detritus.There's a more informative article in Guardian Unlimited, but it's not as amusing.
My personal guess is that they'll set the size limit just low enough to allow Pluto, and add something about it not being a satellite of some other planet (otherwise the Moon would qualify) and with a reasonably circular orbit reasonably close to the ecliptic. (The values of "reasonably" being chosen, again, to allow Pluto.)