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News / Life / Clark County Life

Pluto’s Demotion Day a chance to salute the dwarf planet

Pluto's gravity is too week to be a planet

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: August 23, 2022, 6:03am
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In 2006, software engineer Erik Kilk posted signs at his Vancouver home to protest Pluto's demotion from planet to dwarf planet.
In 2006, software engineer Erik Kilk posted signs at his Vancouver home to protest Pluto's demotion from planet to dwarf planet. (The Columbian files) Photo Gallery

In late August 2006, new discoveries upended a traditional, comfortable way of viewing our solar system: Scientists decided Pluto wasn’t a planet after all.

Some space nerds like to mourn Pluto’s loss of status — or celebrate the progress of science — by commemorating each Aug. 24 as Pluto Demotion Day.

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