{"id":10187,"date":"2006-08-16T10:10:48","date_gmt":"2006-08-16T17:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/08\/16\/a-planet-by-any-other-name.html"},"modified":"2006-08-16T10:10:48","modified_gmt":"2006-08-16T17:10:48","slug":"a_planet_by_any","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/16\/a_planet_by_any.html","title":{"rendered":"A planet by any other name …"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/div>\n

I guess what bugs me most about the whole International Astronomical Union<\/a> debate over “what’s a planet<\/a>” and the current proposed plan that would expand the current number to twelve is not that it doesn’t make any sense (it does), but that it truly dates about three-quarters of the “classic” SF out there.<\/p>\n

\n

An endorsement by astronomers meeting in Prague would require school and university textbooks to be rewritten. The proposal recognises eight classical planets, three planets belonging to a new category called “plutons” and the largest asteroid Ceres. Pluto remains a planet, but becomes the basis for the new pluton category.<\/p>\n

The plan has been drawn up by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) with the aim of settling the question of what does and does not count as a planet. Some 2,500 astronomers gathered at the IAU General Assembly in Prague will vote on the plan next Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While there are plenty of folks who have proposed a definition that would have tossed out Pluto, that evidently has very<\/a> very<\/a> unpopular<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via Warren Ellis<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess what bugs me most about the whole International Astronomical Union debate over “what’s a planet” and the current proposed plan that would expand the current number to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10155,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/22\/poor_pluto.html","url_meta":{"origin":10187,"position":0},"title":"Poor Pluto","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Aug-06 7:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Rather than being part of the Gang of Twelve, it may be left out in the cold ... \u201cI think that today can go down as the \u2018day we...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/pluto.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28527,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/11\/on-the-naming-of-names-planetary-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":10187,"position":1},"title":"On the Naming of Names (Planetary Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Jul-12 3:36pm","format":false,"excerpt":"How do they name planets, moons, asteroids, and the craters and valleys and other features on them?It's more complicated that it sounds (and not very well adhered-to). 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Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10044,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/18\/i_am_not_a_number_i_am_a.html","url_meta":{"origin":10187,"position":3},"title":"“I am not a number! I am a free planet!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 18-Sep-06 3:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Number 6, meet Number 134340: Pluto has been given a new name to reflect its new status as a dwarf planet. 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