posted
Well, now that the population clause is in effect for planethood (i.e. a planet cannot be one of a massive number of other bodies, i.e. it must've been a substantial enough development in the system to have largely cleared its neighborhood), Ceres is not a concern.
Since we have ascertained that Trek avoided mention of the number of planets in the Sol System . . . anyone recall any planets that were part of an asteroid belt or anything?
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
Yeah, now. But the original proposal meant that Ceres would've become Sol V.
There was a planet in DS9 that was either inside or very close to an asteroid belt... was it Soukara in "Change of Heart"?
-------------------- “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
Although my original sentiment about not needing to rationalize changes in scientific standards for past shows, one thought did just occur to me...
Could a class-D planet(oid), like Regula I, mean "dwarf"? That might be strangely appropriate...
-------------------- “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
Given that M = Minshara as re-estblished in Enterprise, and O = Oceanic per Voyager, it's not necessarily to far off these days. Classes L, Y, etc. might take some doing, though.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
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posted
L is marginaL. Y is obviously deYmone.
A D-class world is generally considered to be a asteroid/moon type of deal. It COULD be a dwarf...but maybe it's more an intermediate stage: a dwarf that has "cleared its orbit" & is larger than other dwarves (dwarfs?) but isn't really large enough to cross the "classical" threshold.
i would like to note that geologic status seems to play a part in classing as well, & that Pluto is noted as being class C...perhaps for Cold...or Cut.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
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posted
Except that Pluto's designation only comes from Star Charts... a good resource, to be sure, but non-canon and thus non-binding. I'd be happy to re-designate Pluto as a class-D. Pluto, Charon, Ceres, Xena... they're all best described as "essentially a great rock in space."
-------------------- “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
Except that they're not. Pluto and the other KBOs are mostly frozen water and gases, with a rocky core. Ceres and the other bodies in the asteroid belt are all promarily rocky that formed from pyroclastic means, like the other rocky inner planets.
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