My whole universe just changed.

Saying good-bye to the ninth planet in our solar system is a little difficult, I have to admit. Recent debates over whether Pluto should be demoted to the status of a non-planet (for lack of a better term) helped me realize how much the little guy's status in the universe had come to mean to me. Growing up, that's the way it was -- there were nine planets, no questions asked.

But in Prague earlier today, scientists of the International Astronomical Union decided to deprive Pluto's 66-year-old planetary status, reclassifying it instead as a "dwarf planet." But it just won't be the same.

For the record, here's the new definition for a "classical" planet (maybe we could just start calling them the "elite eight"?):

"[A] celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

And as the Washington Post puts it: "Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's."

Sorry, Pluto. I thought you were a fine planet, really I did. Remember -- it's nothing personal, it's business.