"New Definitions for 'Planet' Proposed, Excluding Pluto from Revised Category"
In 2006, when Pluto lost its planet status, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) set strict criteria for what constitutes a planet. However, a new wave of astronomers is pushing to broaden that definition, making room for alien worlds orbiting stars other than our Sun.
A team of bright minds, led by Jean-Luc Margot, a planetary scientist at UCLA, has proposed revised planetary standards. Their proposal is up for debate during the IAU's General Assembly later this month, but the conversation around Pluto is less about the little guy and more about the thousands of intriguing exoplanets - worlds beyond our solar system - that don't make the cut under the current definition.
NASA has confirmed nearly 6,000 exoplanets, but the agency believes that the real number may tower into the billions. These cosmic mysteries open up chances to explore questions about planetary development, the growth of star systems, and even the existence of life beyond our humble planet.
"All the planets in our solar system are dynamically dominant, but other objects - like dwarf planets such as Pluto and asteroids - are not," Margot said in a university release. "So this property can be included in the definition of planet."
The new definition focuses on an object's mass as the primary factor determining its planetary status, instead of its orbital dominance. According to the team's paper, a planet:
- orbits one or more stars, brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants
- is more massive than 10 kilograms (approximately 2.2 *10 lbs) and
- is less massive than 13 Jupiter masses
Rogue planets, floaters in the cosmic ocean unbound by any celestial body's gravitational pull, could technically meet the second and third criteria outlined in the new definition.
Existing criticism of the IAU's current definition revolves around the "orbital clearing" criterion, which focuses on the object's gravitational dominance rather than its mass. The team argues that their proposal would remove confusion and debates about whether a specific celestial body meets the requirements, since the revised definition centers on a more straightforward, measurable quantity - mass.
If the team's proposal gains traction, we might soon be bidding farewell to the term "exoplanet" and welcoming these tantalizing worlds into the pantheon of planets. This shift would expand the universe's cosmic neighborhood beyond our own solar system and emphasize the vast, interconnected nature of the cosmos.
- The new proposal by Jean-Luc Margot and his team aims to broaden the definition of a planet as set by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), focusing on an object's mass as the primary factor.
- According to the revised definition, a planet would orbit one or more stars, brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants, be more massive than 10 kilograms, and less massive than 13 Jupiter masses.
- Rogue planets, celestial bodies unbound by any gravitational pull, could potentially meet the second and third criteria of the revised definition.
- If accepted, the revised definition could lead to the retirement of the term "exoplanet" and the inclusion of thousands of intriguing worlds beyond our solar system as planets.
