Re: Doesn't Pluto have an atmosphere?

rwalker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Kevin Heider wrote:
On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:50:15 +0100, "OG" <owen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
snip

Do we want to include those 44 Plutos + 1
asteroid (Ceres) in the same league as the 8 Major Planets?

snip

Frankly, I don't care. I don't really care what they call them. They
are there regardless of what we think of them or name them. The whole
idea of "planet" is a cultural concept. What there are are thousands
of bodies of various sizes and compositions in orbit around the sun,
and they are all worthy of study.

This whole fiasco is a tempest in a teapot.


The only bodies that orbit the Sun that are of any real interest to John Q. Public are those that can be pointed out to the naked eye. I tell folks all the time where to look to see Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter (when they are clearly visible in the early morning or early evening). I generally don't bother with Mercury as it is a fleeting object compared to the others.

Uranus and Neptune are visible only as colored dots in an amateur class telescopes that I've used up to 12.5", and Pluto is a difficult enough object to find for the amateur astronomer, never mind Jonny Q..

To the amateur astronomer with a telescope, the "real interest" list can be narrowed down to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Be honest, when observing "planets" with a scope, which planets hold your attention for more than just a few minutes?

Fortunately, any embarrassment over the IAU's definition and/or its application will go pretty much ignored by the masses. So don't sweat it. The average Joe has much more pressing concerns.

-sp
.

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