Ill just add a couple of things: First, theres nothing wrong with having a whole slew of planets, just as theres nothing wrong with having a whole slew of rivers, mountains or seas. We already have a whole slew of planets beyond our solar system, some of which have not cleared their orbits (whatever that means). Second, its quite easy to create subclassifications of planets - thats done already in our solar system, with four terrestrial planets, four gas giants (or, if you prefer, two gas giants and two ice giants) and at least five dwarf planets, probably more (but maybe not that many more). This will all work itself out with time, so I dont think anyone needs to get hot and bothered over calling Eris, Pluto, Makemake, Haumea and Ceres dwarf planets and leaving it at that. Saying there are only eight planets may seem like its a nice, neat way to define the solar system, but it doesnt reflect the messy reality.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 03:00:43 +0000