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Originally posted by Topher:
What ever happened to Quaoar?

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The scientific community realized that was a horrendous name for a solar system planet, and disqualified it from the list as a result.

Really, though, we do need some sort of standard. I'd say Pluto is large enough to be a planet, or at least should be considered one by virtue of having such a large moon. And with its orbit, it's sort of like the eccentric cousin of the solar system, one who I'd hate to see written off.

I'd say we ought to pick an arbitrary value such as 2000km as the minimum planet size. The largest asteroid, for instance, is just 900km, so the extra grand can help keep out most interlopers.

We could bump that up further, of course, so that Pluto is excluded. But, I'd be prone to try to get Pluto in as an exception, perhaps under a "you must have a moon this big to ride" rule.

And, I'd vote that Oort Cloud objects should be disqualified except in extreme circumstances, which should work well with the size limit to keep out planet-wannabes.

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. . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

G2k's ST v. SW Tech Assessment

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Originally posted by Ritten:
Well, it won't get finished unless you start it....

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