[X] My Assistant

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

As there isn't any topic on pointing out interesting TV-programmes, I'll start one ...
Topic works on both sides of the Ocean

For the Europeans:

Just wanted to inform that BBC television has another space-related Horizon documentary entitled ' Bye Bye Planet Pluto ' ... airing Thursday 22nd June at 09:00 GMT

[ngunn]

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you CAN make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

You can't stop people using words the way they want to. Earth-sciency people are always going to think of 'planet' differently from people primarily concerned with orbital dynamics. The IAU is not god. I predict that whatever definition they come up with will not enjoy general consensus and will be obsolete within 10 years. The general public are less deferential now than in 1930 and will not meekly accept the fiat of the IAU. In my view it's the idea that it's possible to make and enforce a new bomb-proof definition that risks making the profession look ridiculous, not the fact that the word 'planet' has become useless as a precise scientific term. The answer to the question "How many planets?" is simple: "Depends what you call a planet."