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

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Sterling W. wrote:

>Then, there would then be three classes of planets: the  Terrestrial,
>the Jovian, and the Plutonian planets.
 
Hola Sterling; I'm on board with just one reservation.  With all this  
hullabaloo going on about with Pluto in the spotlight and reticence to accept  these 
huge, much larger-than-asteroid-sized round, errr thingies way out there  
that look like....well...errr...planets, on technical knock out decisions (TKOs)  
I can't help thinking that Jovian "planets" Jupiter and Saturn should be  
stripped of their planetary status while IAU is re-inventing a  concept more 
ancient than the wheel...Jupiter has a LLLLLLLOT more in  common with a brown 
dwarf star than a planet for my taste, and the accepted fact  that a brown dwarf 
cannot sustain nuclear fusion (and only for a brief period in  its lifetime 
fused deuterium).  Any business about independent orbits for  planets and stars 
is bunk to me as we have plenty of cases of companion stars  orbiting a 
principal star...and Jupiter definitely has even its own Jovian  system in my 
argument's case.
 
So as soon as we lose Pluto and Charon, Let's loose Jupiter while we are at  
it.  Way too much emphasis is being placed on biased definitions leaving  
Earth MORE important than it is in the scheme of things...in the big  
leagues...now that are changing as we go...Fair is fair if one wants to  re-invent 
(cultural) classifications older than the wheel.  Mercury  seems too small and 
inclined while we are at it - smaller than Mars.  But  we can see Mercury with the 
unaided eye, so I guess there is a lot of  anti-Copernican prejudice in this 
still.  As a matter of fact, lets loose  all the other eight planets and just 
stick with Earth.  That's where this  is leading.  The ancients would have a 
ball.  Earth was never a planet  (or "wanderer") for most of those centuries !  
It was just Earth in  the arrogant perfection of the Aristotelian system...so 
maybe there are no  planets at all.  Historically we seem to be at another 
Tychonic view of the  heavens...and that DID NOT stand the test of time...
 
Take the clue, esteemed IAU :),
Tychonically yours, Doug