"A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."
What in Trek becomes invalidated with these new definitions?
-The "penal asteroid" of Rura Penthe would simply be a planet, though Enterprise mostly rectified this anyway.
-How are comets classified here? We've seen any number of spheroid comets in the show.
-That "Rogue Planet" would still be one, though it still makes no sense how it could support life.
posted
The Rura Penthe reference was just a gaffe, anyway. Anything that's got Earth-like gravity and a breathable atmosphere is obviously a planet.
As for the others... meh. I'm not going to do any retconning to help the pinheads at the IAU. As far as I'm concerned, Sol V still refers to Jupiter!
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
Is it just my imagination, or did Trek manage to avoid ever saying that the Sol system had such-and-such many planets? I don't remember any such reference, nor did a cursory search find one.
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posted
I remember the Worlds of the Federation book said the Sol system had 10 planets, although I don't think it identified the extra one. And of course it was completely non-canon anyway.
posted
I don't think GR thought that more would be added, or any removed, so it was probably never mentioned. ENT would have been the only one to be new enough to add anything.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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posted
How to tell the difference from a "snowy dirtball"? Would one measure the percentage of each to derive at a determination?
They should just up the size, but, grandfather in Pluto.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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quote:I don't think GR thought that more would be added, or any removed, so it was probably never mentioned. ENT would have been the only one to be new enough to add anything.
Then again, Asimov dropped a tenth planet into his Foundation universe just for the heck of it, in "Pebble in the Sky". And no, that planet wasn't the titular pebble - the planet played no role whatsoever in the story. It was just a natural assumption for Asimov to think that not all the planets would have been found in the 1950s yet.
Would matters have been any different in that respect in the 1960s?
posted
I do not know, but considering his story lines were to be, mainly, set in other solar systems I do not think he really gave ours much thought, and those that were set in this one were on Sol. Had his stories been more oriented to our system things may have been different.
I guess this is a better answer than the last guess I made. After reading it again I wasn't all that happy with it. Why worry about the one people know about when your job is to explore(create) new ones?
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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posted
Well, and the rest of their bodies as well.
Sol III.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
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posted
quote:As for the others... meh. I'm not going to do any retconning to help the pinheads at the IAU. As far as I'm concerned, Sol V still refers to Jupiter!
Sol V is jupiter no matter if Pluto is Sol VIII or not...
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