What makes a planet

In order for a planet to be a planet they need to meet the three requirements required by the International Astronomical Union. 1) It needs to orbit around a star. 2) It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape. 3) It needs to be able to clear its orbit of debris. This makes Pluto, a dwarf planet. Although Pluto has two out of the three characteristics needed in order to be a planet it does not have enough gravitational pull to clear its orbit of debris. My heavenly body, Callisto is a moon and not a planet because it does not revolve around a star, it revolves around Jupiter. Callisto also cannot clear its 'neighborhood' of debris. However Callisto is defiantly big enough to be a planet, Callisto is almost as big as the planet Mercury!


The Dwarf Planet Pluto