tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2983170650917979636.post1109019343317720364..comments2017-07-13T07:31:44.804-04:00Comments on The Sound A Doggy Makes: On PlutoDave Zuckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11808641571928299718noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2983170650917979636.post-43417674235318054932009-03-05T03:28:00.000-05:002009-03-05T03:28:00.000-05:00Yeah, see, this is exactly what I just said, excep...Yeah, see, this is exactly what I just said, except not funny.Dave Zuckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11808641571928299718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2983170650917979636.post-36992633133911234452009-03-02T14:18:00.000-05:002009-03-02T14:18:00.000-05:00Actually, Pluto IS a planet. The whole question de...Actually, Pluto IS a planet. The whole question depends on how one defines planet, and this is still very much up for debate. The IAU definition was adopted by only four percent of its members, most of whom are not planetary scientists. It was rejected by hundreds of professional astronomers in a petition led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto.<BR/><BR/>Stern and like-minded scientists favor a broad planet definition in which a planet is defined as any non-self-luminous spheroidal body orbiting a star. By that definition, Pluto is very much a planet. We can distinguish between types of planets through use of subcategories such as terrestrial planets, gas giants, ice giants, dwarf planets, etc.<BR/><BR/>The requirement that an object clear its neighborhood to be considered a planet was arbitrarily imposed by this tiny percent of the IAU and is not accepted by Stern and many other scientists as a necessary condition for planethood.<BR/><BR/>However, a logical solution would be to establish dwarf planets as a subclass of planets that are spherical but do not gravitationally dominate their orbits. That would satisfy both dynamical and geophysical criteria.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com