Reminder that “Dwarf planet” is a nonsense category that has nothing to do with size but is based on location. A thing is a planet or a dwarf planet based entirely on where it’s located not on how big it is.
It is also not a concept used outside of our own solar system, which means the term exists entirely to demote Pluto.
No planet has “Cleared its orbit” if you want to be strict about it. You have to exclude a bunch of stuff (Like the Trojans of various planets, and Pluto/The Plutinos from Neptune) and get into a lot of fiddly bits.
Now you could talk about Plutos ability to theoretically do so, which would be a matter of size, but then that should be the discriminant.
Reminder that “Dwarf planet” is a nonsense category that has nothing to do with size but is based on location. A thing is a planet or a dwarf planet based entirely on where it’s located not on how big it is. It is also not a concept used outside of our own solar system, which means the term exists entirely to demote Pluto.
I thought it was because Pluto doesn’t clear its orbit?
No planet has “Cleared its orbit” if you want to be strict about it. You have to exclude a bunch of stuff (Like the Trojans of various planets, and Pluto/The Plutinos from Neptune) and get into a lot of fiddly bits.
Now you could talk about Plutos ability to theoretically do so, which would be a matter of size, but then that should be the discriminant.
I’m no planetologist, but I thought reclassifying Pluto made sense back when I studied them in school 🤔