this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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xkcd #3063: Planet Definitions (xkcd.com)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/xkcd
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Under the 'has cleared its orbital neighborhood' and 'fuses hydrogen into helium' definitions, thanks to human activities Earth technically no longer qualifies as a planet but DOES count as a star.

https://explainxkcd.com/3063/

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[–] CosmicCleric 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Should Ceres be a planet?

I honestly don't know. I tend to say no, as it seems to just be a lifeless rock with no geological activity. I'd love to have rules to identify that, made by planetary geologists.

But I wouldn't want to disqualify a body with planetary characteristics like geological activity just because the space around it is busy, or it's orbit is not in the ecliptic plain, etc.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ceres does appear to be active in some form with cryovolcanoes, based on the 2015 Dawn mission.

I think focus ought to be more on what the qualifications are for the minor label. What does it mean to be minor?

[–] CosmicCleric 0 points 3 days ago

Ceres does appear to be active in some form with cryovolcanoes, based on the 2015 Dawn mission.

Then It's say that it was a planet, though IANAPG.

I think focus ought to be more on what the qualifications are for the minor label. What does it mean to be minor?

There shouldn't be a 'minor' nomenclature, it's a contrivance. It's a planet, or not

Also, to reiterate, the issue being discussed is one of disqualification, and not what qualifies. Identifying a body as a planet or not should not be done based on the criteria of the crowded or not nature of the space around it.

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