AT school I was quite fascinated to learn about astronomy.

On the playing fields of my former primary school, on Albert Hill, in Darlington, I would often gaze at the Moon with my good friend, John Dunne, if it ever emerged during the light of day.

We would look at the satellite in hope of observing Darth Vader flying around it in a spacecraft.

I was taught and I read, that our solar system has nine planets. From the mixed temperatures of Mercury to the freezing outer world of Pluto, but sadly no more.

In 2006, and much to the annoyance of many, the International Astronomical Union ruled that poor Pluto is now a “dwarf planet”, meaning that we only have eight planets in our solar system.

Last year, activists protested on the streets of Seattle, demanding that the IAU reinstate Pluto as our ninth planet, and I agree.

The Earth, surrounded by our closest neighbours, Mars and Venus, along with the vast gas giants of Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune and the little sprog that is Mercury.

The magnificent celestial bodies of our solar system, in all of their marvellous colours and sizes, now seem lost without Pluto. Eight or nine planets ? I leave that to you to decide.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.