Re: Pluto (was: Re: Naming days of the week and months of the year????)

On Fri, 27 April 2001, The Gray Wizard wrote:


> 1) It must (directly) orbit a star
>
> 2) It must be small enough that it has not been undergoing internal nuclear
> fusion (i.e. it is not a star or star-like object)
>
> 3) It must be large enough that its self-gravity gives it the general shape
> of a sphere.
>
> However, under these rules, the asteroid Ceres could qualify as a planet. In
> the final analysis, the designation of "planet" is more a historical issue
> than a scientific one.
Kind of like the designation of "language." ;)

-WW