Probably the greatest April Fool’s joke of all time was the widely publicised hoax stating that Pluto will no longer be known as a Planet.

There would be only eight planets in our solar system and Pluto would be a “dwarf planet”. NASA rubished the rumours at the outset, but scores of ­people were taken in. The hoax actually stemmed from a real International Astronomical Union (IAU) debate on planet ­definitions where “... all other objects orbiting the sun shall be referred to as ‘Small Solar System Bodies’ or ‘Astra non ­mentiuntur, sed astrologi bene mentiuntur de astris’” (in Latin). For more on this and other interesting space facts, go to www.space.com/pluto.