[ExI] fermi question alive and well

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace
Subject: Re: [ExI] fermi question alive and well

 

How did Pluto get kicked out of the planet category?  The astronomers voted on criteria for being called a planet.  Thus defining planet….

 

 

That one surprises me.  I am surprised the Astromoners couldn’t arrange things a little differently, being as so many people had kind of an emotional connection to Pluto (with the whole Disney dog thing (remind me was Pluto the dog who owned another dog or the dog who was owned by another dog?  (Or was he the dog owned by a giant mouse?  (Any of these scenarios is as disturbing as it is weird.))))

 

The astromoners could have arbitrarily figured out some kind of definition which would stretch far enough to define Pluto as a planet, even though the hardcore Astronomy types would still know it is the biggest of a cluster of at least six gravitationally-bound Edgeworth-Kuiper belt objects.  Either way, Pluto is still cool in my view of life.

 

spike   

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