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In 2006, Pluto lost its status as a planet when other bodies in the solar system of similar or greater size were found.

The decision to demote it to a 'dwarf planet' by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) at the time was highly contentious - and it now seems many still want its planet status reinstated.

In a debate where experts presented cases for and against the decision, it was found that most people in the audience still wanted Pluto to be a planet.

In a debate held last week at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Massachusetts most people still wanted Pluto to be a planet. Three experts gave their arguments for and against Pluto being a planet and audience members then gave their decision - with most wanting Pluto to still be a planet (shown)

The debate was held last week at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

During the event three experts explained their own reasoning for thinking Pluto was or wasn't a planet reports Astrobiology Magazine.

And the audience members were then asked to vote on which argument they thought was best.

Dr Gareth Williams of the Minor Planet Centre defended the original IAU decision in 2006 and said Pluto should not be a planet as it had not cleared the path in its orbit - one of the prerequisites for a planet, as decided in 2006.

Science historian Dr Owen Gingerich argued that, for historical and cultural reasons, Pluto should be a planet.

And Dr Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative agreed with Dr Gingerich, but for the reason that any lump of matter large enough to form a sphere around a star should be classified as a planet.

When put to the vote, the majority of the audience - which consisted of experts and members of the general public - agreed with Dr Sasselov, who's definition would also help classify exoplanets.

The vote isn't official, although it does highlight the continued public disapproval of Pluto being demoted.

However, if Pluto was still a planet it would cause a number of complications.

Namely, several other bodies of a similar or greater size such as Ceres and Eris were found, and it is estimated there may be hundreds more Pluto-sized objects in the outer solar system.

Reinstating Pluto, therefore, could ultimately lead to our solar system not being a small family of eight easily identifiable planets, but a complicated system of dozens of obscure worlds extending far beyond the orbit of Neptune.

In July 2015, New Horizons will become the first spacecraft ever to visit Pluto (illustration shown). In 2006 Pluto lost its status as a planet when other bodies of a similar size were found in the solar system. Had it remained a planet, the family of planets in the solar system would likely have to be expanded to several dozen

The latest vote isn't official, but highlights the public continued disapproval of Pluto's demotion to 'dwarf planet' status. Shown here is the most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003