[meteorite-list] Pluto - Part 2 of 2

From: Rosemary Hackney <ltcrose_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:50 2004
Message-ID: <002501c40bc4$ff44a1c0$ba76d6d1_at_default>

I have always considered if it had an orbit around a star it was called a
planet. If it orbited anything else, like a planet, I would consider it a
moon. Not that I am an expert.. but it seems to be it would depend on the
body it orbited.

Satellite of a star = planet
Satellite of planet or other body = moon

Even the asteroid belt is considered the remnants of a planet either that
did not form or exploded.

My 2 cents worth.

Rosie
----- Original Message -----
From: <bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de>
To: <Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 10:43 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Pluto - Part 2 of 2


> Sky & Telescope, March 1990, pp. 295-296:
> A Far Out Planet, George Lovi, excerpt:
>
> Finally, a rather interesting astronomical issue has surfaced as to
whether
> Pluto should legitimately be included in the roster of nine major planets.
Its
> decidedly small size (some 2,280 km across) makes it considerably smaller
> than any other planet, even smaller than several planetary satellites
(including
> our own Moon). It also has a most unplanetary, asteroid-like orbit.
>
> For sometime people have suggested that Pluto is an escaped satellite of
> Neptune, one resembling Triton. Others have proposed that Pluto might be
> some sort of condensed clumping of icy cometary nuclei, or the material
that
> makes up these bodies.
>
> It's really too bad that we cannot look forward anytime soon to a probe
answering
> some of our questions about this "neither fish nor fowl" planet - or
whatever it happens
> to be.
>
>
> CRUIKSHANK D.P. (1999) Pluto and Charon edited by S. Alan
> Stern and David Tholen (MAPS 34-4, 1999, 682, excerpt):
>
> While this book is at least a wonderful compilation of our best
understanding of Pluto and
> Charon, it also represents a window on the other small bodies of the outer
solar system,
> notably Triton, a few other outer planet satellites, and the newly
revealed population of icy
> bodies constituting the Kuiper Disk.
>
> Many Kuiper Disk objects share Pluto's orbital resonance with Neptune;
vastly more lie
> beyond Pluto and form a distribution that may extend to 200 AU or more.
Indeed, Pluto
> and Charon appear to be only the largest known representatives of this
new-found
> component of the solar system. Although the exploration of the Kuiper Disk
is in its
> infancy, this book about the properties of Pluto and Charon in its broader
context helps
> to establish the importance of primitive icy bodies and is a kind of
guidebook toward the
> understanding of their physical properties.
>
> This excellent book is a credit to the Arizona series, to its editors, and
to the chapter authors.
> I recommended it to investigators in the field, advanced students, and
science libraries without
> reservation. (D.P. Cruikshank)
>
>
>
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Received on Tue 16 Mar 2004 09:10:15 PM PST