IAU definition of planet who had theorized on the existence of the large trans-Neptunian object Planet X, and Tombaugh been searching for Planet X when he found Pluto. Almost immediately after its discovery, however, astronomers questioned whether Pluto could be Planet X. Willy Ley wrote a column in 1956 titled "The Demotion of Pluto", stating that it "simply failed to live up to the advance publicity it received as 'Planet X' before its discovery. It has been a disappointment all along, for it did not turn out to be what one could reasonably have expected". In 1978, Pluto's moon Charon was discovered. By measuring
Dwarf planet recognized five bodies as dwarf planets since 2008: Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake. Ceres and Pluto are known to be dwarf planets through direct observation. Eris is recognized as a dwarf planet because it is more massive than Pluto (measurements by "New Horizons" indicate that Pluto's diameter is larger than that of Eris), whereas Haumea and Makemake qualify based on their absolute magnitudes. In relative distance from the Sun, the five are: Mike Brown considers an additional six trans-Neptunian objects to be "nearly certainly" dwarf planets with diameters at or above 900 kilometers. These objects are: Tancredi et al.