[meteorite-list] WHAT IS A PLANET?

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 1 12:02:31 2005
Message-ID: <ea.6e756048.301fa188_at_aol.com>

Martin A. wrote:

>To decide, how to call it, is more a question of history, guess
>Doug will write us a nice homework about.
 
Hola Martin, Sterling, Al, Chris, Alex, Darren, Xena, List,
 
Thanks, Martin, I'll mostly pass on this planetary round - been there, done
that when Tom was helping his kid debate Pluto last time on the metlist -
except (!!), to generally agree with Sterling about having an open mind for
different classes of planets, why not? The more we learn about our Solar System
in this nearly unprecedented age of discovery, the more we need to extend our
vocabulary to cover and accomodate. I am still having problems figuring out
why Vesta isn't called a planet but I don't want to takes sides in a
senslessly manufactured debate! Vesta is cool, differentiated and fits my tastes.
Ceres, the first asteroid identified from earth was called a planet for a
while, but then was weaseled down to a planetoid whatever that is supposed to
mean, and from what I can tell the rationale was because it was not the main
mass in its orbit (however that is defined - someone from Caltech had recently
formalized this definition for a planet and probably has nicely fit the
random history, nomenclature and structure to agree with his opinion). The new
discovery's planetary _status_ is just a _status_ symbol like calling a
particular astronomical brew a good beer. The obvious ones are hard to dispute, and
then there are all the others, which resemble other liquids more than the
original type specimens - to each her own. So whether being less filling in
its orbit, or tasting great for someone else, the discoverer's comment on kid's
textbooks is the only real issue I see here. Fairy tale explanations of
Snow White (Earth) and the seven dwarfs and their now sometimes informally
downgraded Dog, Pluto, are no longer as easy to explain as a Disney cartoon.
Great! As education migrates from senselessly memorizing mnemonics like "My Very
Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles" to having kids fire up the mind
for the complexities of life, I'll be happy to watch the cheerleaders in the
great planetary contest from the sidelines. Maybe the Gods are just laughing
and the new discovery is just a gift of a golden apple from Venus to set the
astronomical community straight that she is the most beautiful planet of all
(and perhaps jealous of her status as the only woman planet in the
heavens?)...
Saludos, Doug
 
Received on Mon 01 Aug 2005 12:02:16 PM PDT