Planet X

[fluffymark]

The claimed discovery of planet X both pleases me and enrages me. While I happily applaud the discovery of a new sizable object in the outer solar system, I'm enraged that anyone has the arrogance to insist it's a planet. Irrespective or not as to if it turns out to be larger or smaller than Pluto - Pluto really shouldn't be a planet either, although nobody realised this at the time of Pluto's discovery. Every few years, someone hails a new small lump of rock to be 'Planet X' - I'm not saying it isn't out there (theres good reasons to believe that there is planet X, in fact), but that none of these little lumps of rock are it.

What is a planet? It's a very difficult question to answer, and was in fact the title to the first section of the first chapter of my PhD thesis. There is no well defined cut-off between large asteroids and small planets. The formation process for both small planets and asteroids is exactly the same, as are the physical characteristics. As things stand, Pluto is arbitarily classed as a planet, with thousands of other objects in the Kuiper Belt with similar orbits and only slightly smaller masses are not planets, which is absurd. If this new object were to be classed as a planet, where do we stop? We'd end up with thousands of 'planets' in our solar system, but most of these would be small lumps of rock that have much more in common with asteroids than a proper planet like the Earth. Pluto itself is more asteroid-like than planet-like, and the indications are that this new 'Planet X' is no different.

But, just in case some idiots decide this is in fact a planet, which greek god should it be named after? I'm all for a planet named Dionysus! Or maybe a goddess for a change?

I got up at some ungodly hour this morning, to join the line of people waiting outside the Russian Consulate. Can someone explain to me why embassies have really stupid opening hours? Grrrrr. Anyway, they seemed quicker and friendlier than last time I was there, and I was finished by 9:30. And there was not a single picture of the much worshipped Mr Putin anywhere. One step closer to going to Russia, now...

Comments

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

If There is no well defined cut-off between large asteroids and small planets. , then is the question of what is or isn't a planet a matter of 'narrative' rather than objective classification? That is, Pluto has, for whatever reason, been accepted into our Solar System's 'Pantheon' - and whether Sedna is as well remains to be seen. Or does Ch. 1 S. 1 lead to some actual objective means, albeit quite subtle or complex, of deciding what is and isn't a planet?

Sorry to be all arsey and social sciencey. It is not usually in my nature.