Are kids still learning about Pluto in school?

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Pluto was no longer classified as a planet in 2006. The Solar System is now considered to have eight known planets.

Are kids still learning about Pluto in school? Or is there coming a time when mostly only space enthusiasts and scientists know about Pluto with most of the rest of the population having never heard of it?

I think most kids already know about Mickey Mouse's dog.

Sorry, I couldn't resist that.

Which is interesting, because I heard somewhere he was originally named Rover, but Disney renamed him Pluto after the object in space was discovered in 1930.

And there's even a light-colored shape on Pluto that would look a lot like the dog Pluto if you added some ears, eyes and a round black nose.

Sorry I'm someone else who doesn't know but I was playing Trivia Hero with my stepdad and it said 'how many planets are there in the solar system', I said 'Eight', he mouthed 'no, how did you get that wrong?' I got it right and smiled smugly...

He also said Czechoslovakia instead of Czech Republic. I win that game by remembering I'm playing it in 2019.

I don't know about school but this is a website for kids:

http://www.planetsforkids.org/smallest- ... ystem.html

I believe there is some consideration to making Pluto a "full" planet again.

...YAAAYYYYY ! I've had this kinda rockabilly song in mind, called " Poor Little Pluto ", for ages .........








kraftiekortie"]I believe there is some consideration to making Pluto a "full" planet again.[/quote]

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Yes, of course kids get taught about Pluto! Along with the other dwarf planets (Ceres, Eris, et cetera), Pluto is part of the Basic Science curriculum in elementary school.

Of course, being a dwarf planet, it likely does not get as much emphasis as "Mighty Jupiter" or "Beautiful Saturn".

Pluto, even when it was a "full" planet, didn't get as much emphasis as Jupiter, etc.

But, the way Pluto was discovered is given emphasis because it is example that being thorough in your work, and persevering, could lead to great discoveries. Pluto was discovered after months of painstaking work.

They do. In fact, my school had this cute little story we learned about Pluto and everything. Its confusing tho, cause they teach it as a planet first and then correct you later down the road....But yeah, he's not forgotten. He tends to be a lot of kids favorite really

When Pluto had higher status (when I was in Gradeschool in the Sixties), they didn't really teach much about it.

That was for the simple reason that they didn't know squat about Pluto back then.

Even in the Seventies when I was in college they didn't have much to say about it in Astronomy 101. Even then the professor couldn't tell us anything even as basic as how big Pluto is (they thought it was bigger than it really is back then).

Only now do we know enough about Pluto to teach anything about it. We know about its several moons, its higher than earth mountain mountains, and about that valentine heart on its face. The one moon Charon was not discovered until (Im guessing) the 21st Century. And the rest wasn't know until that one recent probe flew by a couple of years ago.

Pluto was considered a little larger than the Moon when I was growing up.

Nowadays, it's considered to be less than half the size of the Moon.

If I was a teacher, I would still teach Pluto because it is one-of-a-kind. I would call it "an honorary dwarf planet" and would love to mark it as extra credit.

There are other minor planets which are bigger then Pluto. Can't say which as I threw away the Astronomy magazine which had the article in... silly me. I'm sure Ceres will be bigger, though.