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GiraffeWithATophat t1_j5702dw wrote

If we ever change our technical definition of a "planet" then it could be recognized as one again.

Regarding your second edit, you can kind of think of it that way. The moon orbits the earth like pluto orbits the sun. However for it to be called a "moon" the object needs to be orbiting something other than a star.

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twurbster OP t1_j570kg1 wrote

So it’s really just a cool controversial asteroid?

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Dont____Panic t1_j5756gj wrote

They’ve created a class of object called a minor planet. It’s large enough to pull itself into a sphere, but it has an odd orbit, and hasn’t cleared its local area.

It is, however, quite different from an asteroid like Vesta which are oblong and in a “belt” of other objects.

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twurbster OP t1_j575izj wrote

Thank you. It’s starting to make sense, this question was a lot deeper than I thought. Is minor the same as dwarf?

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