How Pluto Stopped Being a Plant

How many planets do astronomers now think our solar system has?

• 5

• 10

• 2

• 8

What is Pluto called now?

• A dwarf planet

• A golf ball

• Venus

• A planet

What event led astronomers to re-count the planets?

• Astronomers realized how small Pluto was.

• Pluto was pulling things into its orbit.

• In 2006, astronomers came up with a new definition of planet.

• In 2006, Pluto had cleared its neighborhood.

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"But Pluto's size isn't why most astronomers now call it a dwarf planet. So why the change to Pluto's status?

What does the word status mean in the sentence above?

• story

• degree of importance

• unimportance

• sizing

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Part A: What is the central idea of the science article by Tyrone Nielson?

• A group of astronomers decided that Pluto is a dwarf planet.

• Pluto is large enough to be a moon but too small to be a planet.

• Many astronomers are pleased that Pluto is not a planet anymore.

• Some astronomers still believe Pluto should be called a planet.

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Central Idea: A group of astronomers decided that Pluto is a dwarf planet.

Which statement from the text best supports the central idea?

• "For decades, people believed our solar system had nine planets..."

• "And it's true that Pluto is small compared with the planets."

• "In August 2006, astronomers came up with a new definition of planet."

• "It has to be massive enough for its own gravity to pull it into the shape of a ball."

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Which of these is most clearly a key detail of the passage?

• "And it's true that Pluto is small compared with the planets."

• "If Earth were the size of a basketball, Pluto would be the size of a golf ball."

• "It hasn't cleared its neighborhood the way the planets have."

• "Not all astronomers accept the change to Pluto's status."

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How does the author support his claim that Pluto was not "kicked out of the planet club solely because of its size"?

• He uses statistics to support his claim that Pluto was not kicked out because of size.

• He describes his research findings about the size of Pluto.

• He gives information about the three conditions and explains that Pluto does not meet one the conditions.

• He gives information about the other planets sizes and compares it to Pluto.

True or False

All astronomers accept the change to Pluto's status.

• True

• False