[meteorite-list] Devil's advocate

[Darren Garrison]

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:43:31 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:

>If Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune (which it does)
>then one has to ask if Neptune is a planet since it
>hasn't cleared its orbit of debris. Surely Pluto
>counts as pretty significant debris if we're stll
>asking whether it's a planet or not!?

Neptune mass: 1.0247e26 kg
Pluto mass: 1.27e22 kg

So to 2 significant figures (if I'm doing my math right) Neptune is 8000 times
the mass of Pluto-- or Pluto is around .0125 percent as massive as Saturn.  So,
in comparison, for a 180 pound person, that amount of "mass" would be around 10
grams, or a handful of hair and a couple of toenail clippings.  I wouldn't call
that "significant" debris.