[meteorite-list] There Were Once 18 Planets...

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 13 17:28:12 2006
Message-ID: <200609132110.OAA17319_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spaceweather.com/

SpaceWeather.com
September 12, 2006

18 PLANETS: Have you ever heard of the planet Hygea? It's
listed in the 1850 Annual of Scientific Discovery along
with 17 other planets:

[Full Text Graphic]
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2006/13sep06/Pollock1.jpg
Courtesy Joe Pollock, Appalachian State University.

In those days, large asteroids such as Hygea, Ceres and
Vesta were widely deemed planets. They appeared so in
textbooks and scientific journals. Adding asteroids to the
other known planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, gave a grand total of 18. Imagine
the mnemonic: "My Very Educated [insert ten adjectives here]
Mother Just Served Us Noodles."

The asteroids were eventually demoted. It was a long,
drawn-out affair, marked by decades of disagreement and
confusion. (Sound familiar?) By 1900, however, order was
restored to the Solar System: the planet count was down to
eight.

And then came Pluto...
Received on Wed 13 Sep 2006 05:10:58 PM PDT