posted
I say the Sol-Jupiter system either doesn't count because the sun is not a planet -- it is the system's star, or else Sol-Jupiter co-orbit a barycentre, Jupiter being essentially a Brown Dwarf (failed) star, and this is really a binary system, like so many others.
--Jonah
P.S. Given that the Sol-Jupiter barycentre is probably inside the orbit of Mercury, it'd probably be more accurate to say that Jupiter orbits Sol, but is sufficiently massive to make Sol wobble.
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
Member # 621
posted
quote:Originally posted by Shik: if I were on the naming board for the IAU, I would totally submit names from Firefly.
Except that the most likely candidates to fit in the current naming scheme (Ariel, Miranda, etc.) are already moons.
-------------------- If God didn't want us to fly, he wouldn't have given us Bernoulli's Principle.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
The Sol-Jupiter barycenter is just outside Sol. The point I'm trying to make is that if we start defining whether or not a secondary object is considered an equal or subordinate based upon whether the barycenter is within the primary object or not, then Jupiter becomes... Well, I don't know what Jupiter would be. Sub-brown dwarf maybe? But it would be considered a celestial object in the same "weight class" as Sol.
And for the record, I'm not for considering Jupiter as such. It's still nowhere close to achieving nuclear fusion, it'd have to be about 13 times its current mass to do so. It's just that I'm really against the barycenter reasoning behind Charon's proposed status.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Oh, I think quite a few could work well, OTM. Saturnian moons seem to be gettin Inuit & Norse names, asteroids are named after whatever the discoverer likes (hence Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, & Starr), & Bellerophon & Osiris are only unofficial names for extrasolar planets. There's still Hera, Paquin, Sihnon, Triumph, whitefall. Hell, they haven't even touched the Chinese pantheon yet; I'd love to see a planet named Jian Lao, Ma-mian (the bureaucrat of the underworld) or even my favorite & patron Kuan Yin.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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Seems that the definition proposed earlier this week isn't very popular amongst the astonomers in Prague, either. A second definition has now been proposed that requires a planet be far larger than anything else in a similar orbit. The second definition also does away with the term "pluton", which I can't say I cared for.
However, the second proposal still proposes things such as Pluto (and who knows what else) be called "dwarf planets". I find my own position softening a bit on this. I wouldn't be opposed to things big enough to be round but not dominant enough in their orbits to be a planet getting their own category. I just don't like the word "planet" being in the name of that category.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Just call them "earths" like Malcolm Reynolds did & be done with it.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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On the last page is the final draft version of the resolutions. The original resolution was so unpopular that major concessions were made. It was also split into several resolutions. The vote is tomorrow.
I imagine 5A and 6A will pass with little trouble. I doubt 5B will pass (I share the "against" opinion below the resolutions). I also like 6B, but I don't know whether it'll pass or not.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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