[extropy-chat] Re: SPACE: new planet?

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Christian Weisgerber <naddy at mips.inka.de> wrote:
> Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury at aeiveos.com> wrote:
> 
> > Designated 2004 DW, it is 1,800 miles in diameter compared with
> > Pluto which is 2,300 miles in diameter (astronomers/geologists are
> > going to have to start drawing very fine lines on is it or isn't
> > it a "planet").
> 
> As Eric Max Francis regularly points out on rec.arts.sf.science,
> planets are those celestial bodies that have been designated as
> planets by the IAU.  There is no objective definition.  And yes,
> if you try to come up with one, Pluto probably won't rate.  But
> Pluto has been declared a planet by fiat and this is unlikely to
> change.

It is actually rather easy to define a planet:
a) it has its own independent orbit around the sun, and,
b) its own internal gravity has caused it to be round

Those who dislike this definition because it results in 'too many'
planets are obsessive compulsive neatniks who need to get a grip.

=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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