Friday, February 2, 2018

Pluto Reclassified From Dwarf Planet to Planet; April Fools Prank Gone Wrong; Rachel Wresh

In 2006 Pluto was declassified controversially from planet to dwarf planet, decreasing our solar system planet count to eight. However; in the year of 2017 reports began circulating on Twitter and Facebook that supposedly the International Astronomical Union(IAU) sent out a press release announcing that Pluto has been reclassified as a planet.
The parent article of these reports from Futurism.com was written as an Aprils Fools prank but was quickly taken out of context and spread throughout the web. The article began, “Today is a historic day- one that will bring joy to the hundreds of millions of Pluto lovers around the globe. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the body that is responsible for naming and classifying objects in the cosmos, has just announced that Pluto has been reclassified as a major planet” (Futurism.com). This goes to show how a mere prank can create loads of confusion and fake news across the internet.

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