Comment on Sad Ganymede noises
Live_your_lives@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoWhat rules do you believe make for a definition that isn’t contrived? How do you exclude asteroids from your definition or reject other dwarf planets like Ceres without making up contrived exceptions of your own?
mech@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Planets are round objects orbiting a star.
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
I propose a better definition:
Planets are very large objects orbitting a star that dwarf everything nearby
I’m pretty sure this is the intent of the IAU’s definition. It’s just more specific.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Ah, yes. “very large”, “dwarf everything”, and “nearby” are very specific terms…
yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Yes, that is why I mentioned the IAU’s definition was more specific.
Very large? Enough mass to have a round shape.
Dwarf everything nearby? Clear out its orbit by colliding with/capturing/ejecting shit.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Many asteroids are round. The list of planets, under your definition, would be so large it isn’t useful anymore. Even when Ceres, Pluto, and Eris were called planets the list was getting too long, and there are several larger than Ceres. Including every nominally round object would be insane.