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A 3D render of Pluto and Charon.

(Thinkstock photo)

Just when you thought it was out for good, Pluto may be on its way back to planetary status.

Eight years ago at the 2006 International Space Union (IAU) conference, officials laid out the requirements for a celestial body to be designated as a planet, Mashable reported. The body must:

This file image provided by NASA on Feb. 22, 2006 from it's Hubble Space Telescope shows Pluto and three of it's five moons.

Orbit around the sun Be spherical Be the biggest thing in its orbit

Pluto fulfilled the first two requirements, but it was not the largest body in its orbit. That crown belongs to Eris, which is 27 percent bigger than Pluto. In fact, Pluto, with a circumference of just 4,500 miles, is even smaller than Earth's moon, according to The Independent.

The IAU voted 9-8 for Pluto to lose its planetary designation, and Pluto enthusiasts appeared to have lost the battle for the former ninth planet. Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet," but the debate didn't end there.

Fast forward to September 18, 2014, when the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics decided to revisit the question, "what is a planet?"

The Center brought in three experts to discuss the definition of a planet: Dr. Owen Gingerich, chair the IAU planet definition committee; Dr. Gareth Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center; and Dr. Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative.

According to the Center, the hour long debate boiled down into these key points:

So, according to the panel, Pluto is a planet by a 2-1 vote. The audience at the debate was allowed to vote for which definition of a planet sounded best to them. They preferred Sasselov's "spherical lump" definition over the other two.

Of course, this is not an official new definition, but those who have always backed the littlest planet may very well see it as a sign that Pluto will soon be invited back into our planetary family.

In 2015, the debate over Pluto's designation will likely rage on, as New Horizons, the first ever spacecraft to be sent to Pluto, arrives at the planet in July. New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, has always stood behind Pluto as a planet.

Stern told CNN that he tends to side with public opinion on Pluto's designation.

"I think the public is better suited to this than astronomers, at least," Stern said. "The IAU should never have pretended to have the expertise to enter into this debate. It's a matter for planetary scientists, not astronomers."

You can watch the complete 1 hour and 11 minute debate on the Center for Astrophysics' YouTube channel. Do you think Pluto should be defined as a planet? Leave a comment below.