A small icy world at the outer reaches of our solar system revolved as the center of attention and consternation on August 24, 2006. The subject of that year’s gathering of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) would bring professional astronomers and science educators to a monumental decision: the definition of a planet in the twenty-first century.

Half the size of the United States, Pluto captured our imaginations and hearts from the time of its discovery. In 1930, young Clyde Tombaugh was working on new equipment at Lowell Observatory. A device built by the famous Zeiss company, a “blink comparator,” allowed Tombaugh to observe and quickly compare images. On February 18, he saw the dot now known as Pluto.

Gerard Kuiper, in 1951, theorized that there might be more objects in Pluto’s realm. It took another 40 years of observing advances to prove their existence. Sixty-two years after Tombaugh, the next Kuiper Belt Object would be spotted in 1992. Pluto, no longer alone, would soon have an updated classification.

Changing the status of a celestial object was not new. Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, was first considered a planet, then an asteroid, and is currently known as a Dwarf Planet.

Technology leapt forward in the 1990s. Innovative skills and greater knowledge inspired experts to look at our solar system in a fresh way.