[meteorite-list] Astronomers to Decide What Makes a Planet

[Darren Garrison]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 16:07:54 -0700 (PDT), Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:

>Brown argues that astronomers cannot control what gets called a planet.
>"Our culture has fully embraced the idea that Pluto is a planet and
>scientists have for the most part not yet fully realized that the term
>'planet' no longer belongs to them," he says.
>
>"Everyone should ignore the distracting debates of the scientists, and
>planets in our Solar System should be defined not by some attempt at
>forcing a scientific definition on a thousands-of-years-old cultural
>term, but by simply embracing culture," says Brown. "Pluto is a planet
>because culture says it is." And, he adds, that means his new find is a
>planet too.


Because everybody knows that lay pop-culture should be the final arbiter in defining scientific
terms!