[meteorite-list] OT: HOW MANY PLANETS?

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Aug 3 19:14:36 2005
Message-ID: <88.2c070c6e.3022a9ce_at_aol.com>

Ron B. wrote:

>Incidently, if you demote Pluto from being a planet, then the
>definition for a planet becomes much easier. If you include
>Pluto as a planet, then the definition is going to get
>more complicated.
 
Complicated it can be, not dumbed down, with or without Pluto. Arbitrary
numerical criteria are useless to science in the long run whether they be "9
units", "20 degrees" or "3025 miles". They are more like taxing authorities
saying..."if you own more than 20% of the company's stock, you must make
special declarations". That is a foolish angle for the IAU to put itself in, and
more typical of the thinking of mediocre government employees or bureacrats
looking to reduce their workloads (not that we aren't all guilty at times).
 
My personal thoughts of a planet rely on a permanent atmosphere or proven or
potential geological process (major igneous activity, liberally considered)
basis and prime orbit about the Sun. If Earth suddenly was catapulted into a
25 degree inclination ...would it cease being a planet? Perhaps my
definition even excludes Pluto by not for a senseless inclination cutoff, especially
after its hypothetical encounter with Neptune sent it there, or perhaps not.
Vesta is always as bright or brighter than Neptune, and occasionally trumps
Uranus, so something is out of wack here...the ancients would have called
Vesta a wanderer if they didn't carelessly overlook documenting it. (It owes
that brightness to 'geo'logical processes, namely the reflectivity of eucrite.)
 
If Earth were catapulted into the Kuiper Belt would it cease being a planet?
 Wait until an Earth sized ball is found out there...How about
Differentiated Planets, Gaseous Planets, and Frozen Planets to replace the "inner" and
"outer" planets? Remember - for minor planets, a comet for all practical
purposes becomes an asteroid - but it is still a minor planet, under current use...
Kids can still memorize the Inner, Gaseous and Pluto (because Pluto is
sometimes closer than Neptune, a very very important criterion from an earthly
viewpoint of numbering successively the billiard balls starting with the bright
white cue, and all you have to do is say the first 9 planets out..)
Saludos, Doug
 
 
Received on Wed 03 Aug 2005 07:14:22 PM PDT