The Earth lost part of its solar system crew last week when Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union, or IAU, at a meeting in Prague.

The new dwarf planet classification will be attached to several recently discovered objects that have similarities to Pluto.

Bob Victor, a retired astronomer and member of the East Lansing-based Capital Area Astronomy Club, said scientists still will study Pluto the same as they have before.

"These are interesting objects in their own light," Victor said of the new classification. "Science will still be interested in those objects — the fact that they fall under a different classification will not change that."

With the IAU's decision, the solar system now has eight planets.

But astronomers and observers say the debate about Pluto's planetary status is hardly new.

Although the icy ball has been considered a planet since 1930, its small size, distance from the sun and overlapping orbit with Neptune made Pluto dissimilar to the other eight planets.

For now, the science of astronomy is faced with a new challenge: finding and categorizing dwarf planets, said Jack Baldwin, who teaches physics and astronomy at MSU.

"It has been known for 20 years that Pluto does not fit well with the other planets," Baldwin said. "I don't actually care what it is called. What is interesting is how it can help us understand how planets are built up."

With the IAU's decision, in order to be classified as a planet an object must now meet several criteria: It must orbit the sun, it must be large enough to take on a round shape and it must clear its orbit of all other objects. David Batch, director of the Abrams Planetarium on MSU's campus, said he might have to edit some of their presentations.

"There are a lot of taped shows that refer to Pluto as the ninth planet," Batch said. "Technically speaking, those ought to be changed."

Most amateur astronomers are not able to say that they have seen every planet in the solar system, the retired astronomer Victor said.

Now, with Neptune as the farthest planet from the sun, almost anyone can see all eight planets with just a pair of binoculars, he added.

Though the change created much press and discussion last week, it's not a shock to some.

David Chamulak, an astrophysics graduate student, wasn't surprised.

"Out of all of the planets, Pluto is the smallest, and its moon is almost the same size," Chamulak said. "I expected them to classify it as not a planet anymore — I am not surprised."