[extropy-chat] 10th Planet Discovered

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Brent Neal <brentn at freeshell.org> wrote:
>  (3/17/04 20:25) Amara Graps <amara at amara.com> wrote:
> 
> >However, the context was about rocky cores and whether Sedna is a
> >planet  (? I didn't read all of the thread), so I still don't follow
> >your 'damning' comment. 
> 
> They were separate and unrelated except for the fact that the
> literature I read seems to indicate that astronomers are considering
> both the eccentricity of orbit and the presence of a solid rocky core
> as key criteria for planethood.
> 

If this is so, there quite a number of superjovians orbiting other
stars which wouldn't be 'planets' if obital eccentricity is a criteria.

Similarly, jovians may have rocks in their cores, but they are
primarily cores of light elements like hydrogen that have condensed to
metal under pressure. This would also preclude any jovian from being a
'planet'.

Sounds to me like some astronomers are inventing criteria like some
early 20th century scientists did to invent definitions of aryan superiority.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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