A group of researchers say Pluto was unfairly maligned by a decision to relegate it to "dwarf planet" status — and that we should consider our solar system to have more than 150 planets.
Part of the argument for classifying Pluto as a planetoid or dwarf planet was that there were many similar bodies orbiting the sun waiting to be discovered, and we'd end up with hundreds of planets. But what's wrong with having hundreds of planets? "Researchers say the more the merrier."
a study announced in December from a team of researchers in the journal Icarus now claims the IAU's definition was based on astrology — a type of folklore, not science — and that it's harming both scientific research and the popular understanding of the solar system. The researchers say Pluto should instead be classified as a planet under a definition used by scientists since the 16th century: that "planets" are any geologically active bodies in space.
