Comments on: Worlds without end https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/worlds-without-end/ Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:10:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Edward https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/worlds-without-end/#comment-784516 Sun, 26 Jul 2015 22:10:04 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=35332#comment-784516 It seems to me that when astronomers discovered that objects in the Kuiper Belt could be large enough to be classified as planets, they realized that there could be far too many for schoolchildren to memorize. It is hard enough to memorize nine planets, much less dozens or hundreds.

So many astronomers panicked that future schoolkids would not have the same interest in astronomy and voted to redefine what constituted a planet (after many of the astronomers left the conference to go back home). Unfortunately, in their rush, they did not think through the new definition and what it meant. One part of the definition is that a planet has “cleared the neighborhood” of its orbit of other objects, but there are plenty of other objects in the orbital neighborhood of Earth, and most of the other planets.

My father sent me a link to this article, which says that there is a growing demand that Pluto be reinstated as a planet.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/24/pluto_planet_nasa/

]]> By: Joe https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/worlds-without-end/#comment-783758 Fri, 24 Jul 2015 04:55:09 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=35332#comment-783758 No matter what it’s classified as, Pluto will almost always be include on charts of the outer planets, much as Bermuda is almost always included in charts of “Caribbean” islands, even though it has been known to be a very different animal since soon after its discovery.

]]>