Pluto Demoted Day 2022: History, Significance and Facts

Learn about the significance of Pluto Demoted Day, as well as its history, facts, and activities to mark the occasion on August 24th.

It's time to pull out your telescope and spend some time contemplating the mysterious and fascinating objects in space. Every year on August 24, we commemorate Pluto Demoted Day as a fun way to remember when Pluto was designated a dwarf planet due to its size being even smaller than the Earth's moon, and thus removed from the list of planets in our solar system. Pluto the ninth-largest object directly orbiting the sun in our solar system, is located in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune's orbit.  Let's take a closer look at how and when this tiny space object was discovered.

Event Pluto Demoted Day
Date August 24, 2022
Day Wednesday
Significance Commemorates Pluto's reclassification from planet to dwarf planet in 2006
Observed by United States

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Pluto Demoted Day: History 

Percival Lowell was the first scientist to discover Pluto's existence in 1905, when he observed the strange derivation in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. It was clear from Percival's observation that there is a possibility of a large celestial body pulling and creating derivation due to its gravity. However, Percival died 15 years before Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory. 

Pluto was demoted from planet to dwarf planet in 2006 after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) settled the actual definition of the planet and Pluto failed to meet the required condition. This event sparked widespread outrage around the world, with people sharing memes about the demoted Pluto and textbooks being updated.

Pluto, the dog named after the dwarf planet Pluto, made his debut in 1930, and you've probably heard of him. Walt Disney devised this market strategy in order to capitalize on the newly discovered Planet's popularity at the time. 

The origins of Pluto Demoted Day are unknown, but the massive celebration was most likely the result of the outrage in 2006, when Pluto was demoted. 

Pluto Demoted Day: Significance 

The Pluto Demoted Day is important in honoring the dwarf planet because when Pluto lost its status from planet to dwarf planet, there was a massive outrage in the world, with some accepting it and others simply denying its status, and this eventually led to the people's emotion and sentiment for the Dwarf Planet, so people started celebrating the Pluto Demoted Day in order to remember and honor the planet through the unofficial day recognition. 

The day also plays an important role in updating you with historical facts and encouraging you to begin your exploration of outer space, as there is still much to discover but only requires your exploration.

The day also tells us about human achievements in outer space, and how technology has made space exploration easier, and how we can now visit the space as tourists and see the depths of space with our own eyes. 

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Pluto Demoted Day: Activities 

The day can be celebrated many ways with many different activities, however some of the activities are listed below. 

1. Raise awareness about the day: To participate in this mega event, simply share the event images or memes about the Dwarf Planet with the Hashtag #PlutoDemotedDay on social media platforms. 

2. Learn more about Pluto: There is a lot to learn about Pluto and the other dwarf planets that orbit in the Kuiper belt with Pluto, such as Eris, Makemake and Haumea..

3. Go to the planetarium: The best way to observe space is to go to your local planetarium, which will not only teach you about the basics of space but will also make you feel it.

Pluto Demoted Day: Facts 

We've compiled a list of fascinating facts for Pluto Demoted Day. 
  1. Pluto orbits the sun at a distance of 3.6 billion miles, which is 40 times as far as the sun in the Kuiper belt region beyond Neptune's orbit. 
  2. Pluto is a ringless Dwarf planet with five moons, the largest of which is Charon.
  3. The surface of Pluto is too cold, with temperature ranging from -378 to -396 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  4. Pluto is a small world, smaller than the width of the United States and nearly two-thirds the size of the Earth's Moon.

Pluto Demoted Day: FAQ 

1. When is Pluto Demoted Day observed each year?

Every year on August 25th, Pluto Demoted Day is observed.

2. What is the significance of Pluto Demoted Day?

Pluto Demoted Day is observed every year to commemorate the day when Pluto was demoted from Planet to Dwarf Planet.

3. How can we commemorate Pluto Demoted Day?

The Pluto Demoted Day can be observed simply by raising awareness about the day on social media platforms and learning about the history of human space exploration.
Hi, I'm an editor and content writer for merazone.com, and I just love this new world of science and technology which brought my thoughts to you.

5 comments

  1. What you call "Pluto Demoted Day" is hardly something to celebrate. It was a dark day for science, and it definitely is not the final word on this issue. Just 4% of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most were not planetary scientists but other types of astronomers. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by an equal number of professional planetary scientists led by New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern. Ironically, Stern is the scientist who coined the term "dwarf planet" back in 1991, but he did so to designate a new subclass of planet, not to designate a class of non-planets. The 4% of the IAU who voted in 2006 misused his term.

    Today, most planetary scientists reject the IAU demotion in favor of the geophysical planet definition, introduced at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference in 2017. According to this definition, an object does not have to "clear its orbit" to be a planet. Instead, a planet is def…
    1. (continued). Instead, a planet is defined as any non-self-luminous spheroidal body orbiting a star or free floating in space. If the object is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity and isn't a star itself, it is a planet.
  2. We should spend more resources studying large asteroids like Pluto.
    1. Pluto is NOT an asteroid. Asteroids are tiny, shapeless objects held together only by their chemical bonds. In contrast, planets, including those of the dwarf planet subcategory, are shaped by their gravity, which squeezes them into a spherical or nearly spherical shape. Unlike asteroids, Pluto is geologically differentiated into core, mantle, and crust, has an atmosphere, and has complex planetary processes.
  3. The New Horizons mission revealed Pluto and Charon as unique and important planets, as scientifically worthy of inclusion in our solar system's list of 'planets' as any of the other 'traditional' ones that are recognized. I would go one step farther to say that they represent something wholly unique - a "Binary Planet" unlike any other orbiting the Sun or other star (at least that we know of).
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