US EditionIsaacman Backs Restoring Pluto’s Planet Status in Senate Hearing
Isaacman said NASA is preparing papers to push the scientific community to revisit Pluto’s classification, reviving a debate that began with the 2006 reclassification.
- On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations he is "very much in the camp of 'make Pluto a planet again'" while preparing scientific papers to revisit the classification.
- The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a "dwarf planet" in 2006 after establishing criteria requiring objects to orbit the sun, be spherical, and clear their orbital neighborhood of debris.
- Isaacman aims to escalate a scientific proposal to honor Clyde Tombaugh, the American astronomer who discovered Pluto in 1930, while critics argue the current IAU definition is "unscientific and inconsistent" in its application.
- California Institute of Technology professor Mike Brown maintains that the IAU holds ultimate authority over planetary definitions, emphasizing that scientists must classify objects based on understanding the solar system rather than nostalgia.
- NASA is preparing scientific papers to revisit the discussion, building on findings from the 2015 New Horizons flyby that revealed towering ice mountains and the iconic "heart" region on Pluto's surface.
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13 Articles
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has stated that he is in favour of Pluto becoming a planet again and has indicated that the space agency plans to reopen the debate on the return of the ninth planet until 2006. "I am totally in favour of Pluto being considered a planet again," Isaacman has responded to a committee of the U.S. Senate that reviewed Tuesday's White House budget request for NASA in 2027.The head of NASA has added that the agency is…
Make Pluto a planet again! Could Nasa chief make this possible?
Nasa chief Jared Isaacman wants to restore Pluto to its former glory. On Tuesday (April 28), the US space agency chief said he is very much in the camp of 'make Pluto a planet again.' But experts say the ultimate authority regarding Pluto's status lies with the International Astronomical Union (IAU)
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