Source: Science Alert

NASA Scientists Have Proposed a New Definition of Planets, and Pluto Could Soon Be Back

Could our Moon get planetary status?

BEC CREW 20 FEB 2017

NASA scientists have published a manifesto that proposes a new definition of a planet, and if it holds, it will instantly add more than 100 new planets to our Solar System, including Pluto and our very own Moon.

The key change the team is hoping to get approved is that cosmic bodies in our Solar System no longer need to be orbiting the Sun to be considered planets - they say we should be looking at their intrinsic physical properties, not their interactions with stars.

"In keeping with both sound scientific classification and peoples' intuition, we propose a geophysically-based definition of 'planet' that importantly emphasises a body's intrinsic physical properties over its extrinsic orbital properties," the researchers explain.

The team is led by Alan Stern, principle investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, which in 2015 achieved the first-ever fly-by of the controversial dwarf planet.

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Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-sci...nge-everything