[meteorite-list] Devil's advocate

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Aug 22 20:07:30 2006
Message-ID: <200608222315.QAA03467_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

> If Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune (which it does)
> then one has to ask if Neptune is a planet since it
> hasn't cleared its orbit of debris. Surely Pluto
> counts as pretty significant debris if we're stll
> asking whether it's a planet or not!?
>

While Pluto's orbit appears to overlaps Neptune's orbit when
viewed above the ecliptic plane, their orbits don't actually
intersect. Also, since Pluto is in 3:2 orbital resonance with
Neptune, the two bodies never get close to each other either.

Ron Baalke
Received on Tue 22 Aug 2006 07:15:47 PM PDT