Twenty Years Since Pluto Was Demoted: What the IAU Actually Voted On, and Why the Political Campaign to Undo It Cannot

On 19 September 2026, Down To Earth marked twenty years since the International Astronomical Union (IAU) stripped Pluto of planetary status at its Prague General Assembly on 24 August 2006 — ending a 76-year run that began with its discovery in 1930. The anniversary lands in the middle of an American political campaign to reverse the decision.