Pluto, no longer a planet! Shocking rite? I've known PLuto as a planet for 19 years and now it no longer a planet...some may be asking why is it not a planet?? Well, it's beacuse under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Hence Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's. Therefore now Pluto has been demoted and now it's classified under a new category called dwarf planet. This decision was made by 2500 astronomers from 75 countries at a conference recently.