Experts meet to decide Pluto fate, Finally we'll know what a 'planet' is... |
Experts meet to decide Pluto fate, Finally we'll know what a 'planet' is... |
Aug 14 2006, 06:06 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: 2-March 04 From: Central California Member No.: 45 |
-------------------- Eric P / MizarKey
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Aug 15 2006, 01:47 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
It's also worth mentioning that Ceres used to be called a planet, but once it became clear how many other bodies were in the asteroid belt, it lost that status. (Be interesting to learn exactly how that happened; I suspect there wasn't any kind of formal vote.)
Besides, there's a nice symmetry in having eight planets and two asteroid belts. The four terrestrial planets are inside the original asteroid belt and the four jovian planets are between that asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. Just tell the public they're not losing a planet -- they're gaining a new asteroid belt. I think most people aren't even aware there's a Kuiper belt at all. |
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