The International Astronomical Union decided yesterday to downgrade Pluto’s status as a planet (see report here). And just like that, the solar system has been reduced to eight planets. Although there is some grumbling, there seems little doubt the world will accept the IAU’s judgment, even the IAU is a non-governmental international association. Talk about power! I’m sure folks at places like the U.N. wish their decisions had such widespread acceptance.
Well, it wasn’t destroyed, as the article noted, just transformed into a ‘dwarf planet’!