[meteorite-list] Astronomers to Decide What Makes a Planet

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Aug 3 04:47:02 2005
Message-ID: <2b.785facc6.3021de60_at_aol.com>

Sterling W. wrote:

>Then, there would then be three classes of planets: the Terrestrial,
>the Jovian, and the Plutonian planets.
 
Hola Sterling; I'm on board with just one reservation. With all this
hullabaloo going on about with Pluto in the spotlight and reticence to accept these
huge, much larger-than-asteroid-sized round, errr thingies way out there
that look like....well...errr...planets, on technical knock out decisions (TKOs)
I can't help thinking that Jovian "planets" Jupiter and Saturn should be
stripped of their planetary status while IAU is re-inventing a concept more
ancient than the wheel...Jupiter has a LLLLLLLOT more in common with a brown
dwarf star than a planet for my taste, and the accepted fact that a brown dwarf
cannot sustain nuclear fusion (and only for a brief period in its lifetime
fused deuterium). Any business about independent orbits for planets and stars
is bunk to me as we have plenty of cases of companion stars orbiting a
principal star...and Jupiter definitely has even its own Jovian system in my
argument's case.
 
So as soon as we lose Pluto and Charon, Let's loose Jupiter while we are at
it. Way too much emphasis is being placed on biased definitions leaving
Earth MORE important than it is in the scheme of things...in the big
leagues...now that are changing as we go...Fair is fair if one wants to re-invent
(cultural) classifications older than the wheel. Mercury seems too small and
inclined while we are at it - smaller than Mars. But we can see Mercury with the
unaided eye, so I guess there is a lot of anti-Copernican prejudice in this
still. As a matter of fact, lets loose all the other eight planets and just
stick with Earth. That's where this is leading. The ancients would have a
ball. Earth was never a planet (or "wanderer") for most of those centuries !
It was just Earth in the arrogant perfection of the Aristotelian system...so
maybe there are no planets at all. Historically we seem to be at another
Tychonic view of the heavens...and that DID NOT stand the test of time...
 
Take the clue, esteemed IAU :),
Tychonically yours, Doug
 
 
 
Received on Wed 03 Aug 2005 04:46:24 AM PDT