Pluto Officially Becomes, "The Prototype of a New Category of Trans-Neptunian Objects". (August 25, 2006)

    After considerable sole searching and not a little acrimony, the International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague decreed on August 24 that to qualify as a planet in orbit around our Sun, an aggregate of matter must, 1-have been made spherical by its own gravity, 2-have cleared its neighbourhood of other debris; and 3-not be a satellite of another planetary body.

Orbits  Pluto in red  Neptune in blue  Orbits plotted in brighter colours above the ecliptic and darker below.  Major axis drawn showing perihelia (q) and aphelia (Q).  Orientation  The Sun in the centre of the graph.  Yellow segment points toward the vernal point.  View from ~ 10 degrees above the ecliptic.  Credit: Wikipedia

Pluto, discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh dropped out at the second hurdle, but having fallen, the problem of determining what to call it and objects like it remained. A vote on the proposition that "plutonian objects" be used brought forth 237 votes in favour, 257 against and 17 abstentions.

So Instead, Pluto is one of a new category of object to be known as 'dwarf' planets (which, not to be confusing, don't fall under an umbrella term of 'planets', and must, by definition, be written with single quote marks around 'dwarf'). These objects satisfy the other criteria, in being approximately spherical and not satellites. Ceres, which lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is also now a 'dwarf' planet.

"There is a large Pluto fan club out there that is going to be incensed by our actions," Owen Gingerich, chair of the planetary definition committee, had warned earlier in the week. The rejection of 'plutonian objects' means the category remains nameless.

Surprisingly, considering that Pluto in Greco-Roman mythology is the god of the underworld, the classifications of 'under' planets, or 'Hadian' objects weren't even discussed.

Patricia Tombaugh, the discoverer's 94 year-old widow now living in New Mexico told media that like any good scientist, her late husband would have accepted the demotion as inevitable. "Clyde would have said, 'Science is a progressive thing and if you're going to be a scientist and put your neck out, you're apt to have it bitten upon'."

The consensus in the astrological community appears to be that there will be no significant alterations to future horoscopes.