NASA administrator declares Pluto to be a planet once again

Our Solar System (Pinterest)

Pluto’s celestial status has always raked up a controversy. Within decades of being discovered, it was stripped of its planetary status for being too small, and fans of the tiny planet (or not) have been debating the issue since. One such fan of ‘Pluto the planet’ happens to be the current NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

He stoked the debate once again when he went public at the FIRST Robotics event in Oklahoma on August 24 and reinstated his belief that Pluto is a planet.

Aware that his statement will become the hot topic in the scientific community and enthusiasts once again for going against convention, he backed his statement saying: “Just so you know, in my view Pluto is a planet. You can write that the Nasa administrator declared Pluto a planet once again. I’m sticking by that, it’s the way I learned it and I’m committed to it.”

A video clip of him making this statement was shared by meteorologist Cory Reppenhagen on Twitter.

My favorite soundbyte of the day that probably won't make it to TV. It came from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. As a Pluto Supporter, I really appreciated this. #9wx #PlutoLoversRejoice @JimBridenstine pic.twitter.com/NdfQWW5PSZ

— Cory Reppenhagen (@CReppWx) August 23, 2019

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and was quickly declared the ninth planet in our solar system. Its planetary status was stripped in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union for being even “smaller than the Moon”, and it was dubbed a “dwarf planet” instead.

The status was revoked after several non-planetary celestial bodies of similar size were discovered in the same region. However, debates started once again when NASA’s scientist from the 2015 Horizons mission co-authored a paper seeking the reclassification of Pluto as a planet.