It's official--Pluto's out
The International Astronomical Union has voted to remove Pluto from the solar system--as a planet, that is.
Meeting in Prague over the past week, IAU members rejected a proposal to increase the number of planets to 12 by including Ceres, the largest known asteroid, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter; Charon, which has been considered Pluto's moon; and 2003 UB313, an object nicknamed "Xena" that was discovered in 2005 orbiting far beyond Pluto.
Pluto is now considered a "dwarf planet" because it has an oblong orbit that overlaps with Neptune's orbit.
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