2003 Ub 313: The Incredible Shrinking Planet?, No bigger than Pluto? |
2003 Ub 313: The Incredible Shrinking Planet?, No bigger than Pluto? |
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Jan 31 2006, 09:20 PM
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Apr 17 2006, 09:59 PM
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Size makes more sense than discovery date, by any standard (scientific or popular). After all, two planets were discovered after we started discovering asteroids.
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Apr 18 2006, 04:15 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 307 Joined: 16-March 05 Member No.: 198 |
Size makes more sense than discovery date, by any standard (scientific or popular). After all, two planets were discovered after we started discovering asteroids. IMHO neither make much sense. But let's suppose for argument's sake some kind of line did get drawn on the basis of size. What happens if KBOs bigger than the agreed line start being found? One or two might well be accommodated, but suppose a dozen or more were found? Are they all to be honoured with the label "planet" or do the goalposts get moved again? (And if the newly found KBOs are allowed the honour why not Pluto?) This line of argument can be taken further. What happens if KBOs start being found out there which are bigger than Mercury? Do we start calling them planets or does Mercury also get demoted from the "planet" club when the line gets moved yet again to weed out the unwanted? If there has to be a line of some kind which defines what is a planet and what is not then no matter where you draw it, be it to exclude Pluto or to include Pluto, there surely ought to be some kind of rational scientific justification for putting that line in a particular place. If the position is simply some arbitrary value then what exactly has been achieved by having a line at all, let alone at that particular point? ====== Stephen |
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