I've heard Pluto maybe bigger than was expected. Will it become a planet again?
I was thinking the same thing.
And I'm no expert but it does seem more than just a dead piece of rock, there are things going on there, volcanic activity or something.
Actually, I don't think that Pluto's size was the major factor in its demotion. The way I understand it, the main reason was that, with so many other Kuiper Belt objects found that were of similar size (along with the prospect of up to several hundred {or even thousand} more still to be discovered), with each one requiring to be given a name (since it would be a planet), rather than a catalog number or other designation, keeping everything straight would have been a huge mess.
Personally, I think that (and many of the other "excuses" given) is a crap reason for demoting Pluto. I also have a problem with the fact that astronomers (whose major role deals with the entire universe, not the solar system), and not planetary scientists, were the ones who carried out the demotion. What gives here?
Pluto - what does it look like ? Astronomy & Near Earth Phen...
