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To: SunkenCiv
"We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies."

We don't even know what all of the contingencies are yet. But I would think that the same definition we use for our own solar system would be used for other solar systems, until an object is found that just doesn't fit. Or until a natural dividing line is found that makes redefining "planet" again for all solar systems.

3 posted on 01/27/2010 4:40:54 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

dictionaries stop at ‘oral sex’


6 posted on 01/27/2010 4:45:16 PM PST by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com)
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To: DannyTN

“Satellite” should work, no matter what.


7 posted on 01/27/2010 4:45:34 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: DannyTN

“We don’t have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies.”

— — —

The definition of “planet” was determined in 2006 by idiots at the International Astronomical Union (IAU). They said that (in the Solar System) a planet is a celestial body that:

1.is in orbit around the Sun,
2.has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and
3.has “cleared the neighbourhood” around its orbit.

#3 creates a HUGE problem because Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune and is actually closer to the Sun than Neptune for 20 years at a time (out of 165 year long orbit). So the problem with rule #3 is that Neptune hasn’t “cleared its own neighborhood” so it shouldn’t be a planet either!


10 posted on 01/27/2010 5:09:27 PM PST by HighWheeler
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To: DannyTN

That refers only to the *known* contingencies. :’)


11 posted on 01/27/2010 5:33:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Happy New Year! Freedom is Priceless.)
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