Was Pluto Ever REALLY a Planet?

By jmajor - May 31, 2012 at 9:59 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Ever since the infamous 2006 reclassification of Pluto off the list of "official" planets (which had a rather incendiary effect on many of the distant world's Earthly fans) the term "planet" has been seen by some as a variable one, difficult to define and apparently able to be given and taken away. But was Pluto ever

really

deserving of the title to begin with?

This fun info-animation by

C.G.P. Grey

suggests that it wasn't, and offers a compelling explanation why.

[/caption]

Grey writes on his

blog

:

"To my constant surprise the issue of Pluto's planetary status -- which I think should be a dry technical issue -- really gets people riled. But it's also been my experience that the people who most want Pluto to be a planet know the least about it and the history of its discovery. So, I hope that this video can help correct that a little bit."

We still love you, Pluto, no matter

what

you are!

See more of Grey's excellent animations on YouTube here.