This US state has declared Pluto as its ‘official state planet’

Arizona, situated in the southwestern United States, has officially designated Pluto as its "state planet," despite the International Astronomical Union's decision in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet," and removing its status as an official planet.

According to The Arizona Daily Star, on March 29, Arizona governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill designating the "dwarf planet" Pluto as the "official state planet" of Arizona. When asked about Pluto's classification as a full-fledged planet, Governor Hobbs evaded the question, expressing pride in Arizona's contributions to space exploration instead.

It's worth noting that American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1930. Notably, Pluto is the only planet to have been discovered in the United States.

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“The whole story of Clyde is just amazing, just sitting there under the telescope’’ looking for planets by taking photos over a period of time," said Arizona state Republican Justin Wilmeth (R-Phoenix), who praised the Pluto legislation.

Senator Sally AnnGonzales(D-Tucson)--one among the five senators who voted against the legislation--said, “Scientifically, they took it out of being a planet." Gonzales added that lawmakers must take scientific information into account, “something that we as a Legislature, as a body, sometimes omit.’’

What is the status of Pluto?

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided to reclassify Pluto, removing it from the category of planets. They argued that the distant icy object at the outer reaches of the solar system did not meet the complete and precise criteria required for classification as a planet. Consequently, the IAU designated Pluto as a "dwarf planet."

According to NASA, “Pluto is a dwarf planet located in a distant region of our solar system beyond Neptune known as the Kuiper Belt. It was long considered our ninth planet, but the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006."

“It was named by 11-year-old Venetia Burney of Oxford, England," the US space agency added.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Pluto is categorised as a dwarf planet because, although it has achieved a spherical shape, it lacks the necessary size to assert gravitational dominance and clear its orbital path of other celestial bodies.

(With inputs from agencies)