Pluto Is Once Again Ninth Largest Body To Orbit Sun. You Go!, Pathetic Dwarf Planet!

Enlarge. | Via.

Pluto stumbles back onto his feet. Shamed, disparaged, red faced. He stumbles back onto his feet, and once again rightfully claims his place as the ninth largest body in our solar system to orbit the sun.

io9:

When scientists first discovered the dwarf planet Eris back in 2005, they claimed that the icy body was actually larger than Pluto. But when Eris’ orbit passed in front of a dim star late last year, astronomers got their first chance to take a good hard look at the dwarf planet’s actual diameter. And as it turns out, Eris and Pluto are almost identical in size; in fact, Pluto might actually be just a little bitbigger.

We first reported on the team’s findingsabout a year ago, but until recently the researchers’ analyses had yet to be confirmed by a peer review process. Now, however, their results appear to be official; the team’s conclusions were published in the October 26th issue of Nature.

The latest measurements put Eris’ diameter at an estimated 2,326 kilometers (1,445 miles), while a similar set of measurements,published back in 2009, estimated that Pluto is at least 2,338 kilometers (1,453 miles) in diameter.

“It could be smaller, it could be larger; basically, it is a twin,” said Paris Observatory astronomer Bruno Sicardy, the lead researcher on the investigation.

In other words, the two planets are almost identical in size (even if Eris is actually more massive than Pluto). But Pluto is technically a smidge bigger. You know, if you want to be technical about it. But who’s really keeping track, right? It’s not like the discovery of Eris was what first prompted astronomers to demote Pluto to dwarf-planet status in the first place, or anything. Oh wait, it totally was.
Yeah son, yeah son, yeah!