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Archive: November 2013 (12 Posts)

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Asteroid Impostors and the Planet that Never Was: What’s on Your Diagram of the Solar System?

Posted by: Stephen Wesson

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune: These are the eight planets of the solar system displayed on diagrams in our educational resources today. Of course, many of us still remember Pluto, which was considered a planet for many years until it was recently reclassified. Pluto's demotion isn't the only dramatic change that's happened to educational solar system diagrams over the years, though.