February 29, 2008

The Next Great Planet Debate

Posted at: 11:45 pm by Timothy Haroutunian
Categories: Rants and Randomness

I wish they could bring Pluto back as a planet….Enjoy

How do you define a planet? Officials at the International Astronomical Union thought the matter was settled more than a year ago when it drew up a definition of planethood that separated little Pluto from its eight bigger siblings and put it in the dwarf-planet category. Boy, were they wrong.

Many astronomers say the definition that the IAU came up doesn’t adequately reflect the diversity of worlds we see even in our own solar system - and arguably, might even exclude Jupiter as an official planet. Now a replay of the “Great Planet Debate” has been scheduled for August. Pluto may remain in the pint-size pigeonhole - but the other planets, in our solar system and beyond, would get their own pigeonholes as well.

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