12 planets in the Solar System will be official count on 24th of August

[bhsup]

Hrm, okay I didn't realize Uranus had a large satellite system. Dang it, I was really hoping there was some way to get a Doom naming sequence going for our solar system.

 

[7ronin]

This is all a plot by the publishers of school science textbooks. The schools now have to buy revised versions meaning more sales and profits for the publishers.

 

[JoeM]

Charon? Oh please, it's a moon. [/i].

That's no moon.

It's a naming convention. The sky is not falling. It allows people to discuss astronomical objects.


They already refer to inner and outer planets, I'm sure you will add a similar adjective to narrow down the generic term to which ever specific group you wish to.


Although, I'll place a large bet that in a couple of hundred years there'll be a huge debate of the planetary rights of Charon when Rio Tinto get a mission together...

 

[The Last Conformist]

Jupiter and Saturn? New classification for such huge planets with their own independent systems. I know Jupiter and its satellites are also known as the Jovian System, but I am unaware of any such name for Saturn.

"Saturnian System". You could almost call it intuitive.

But a classification that separates Neptune from Saturn while uniting it with Mercury sounds majorly wrongheaded.


Just about all else I've got to say on this subject is in the links Perf has provided, so I'll just remind you of Arthur C. Clarke's dictum that the Solar System consists of the Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris.

 

[kryszcztov]

Just about all else I've got to say on this subject is in the links Perf has provided, so I'll just remind you of Arthur C. Clarke's dictum that the Solar System consists of the Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris.

I find this statement stupid. Saturn at least is about 3 or 4 times lighter than Jupiter, and just a bit smaller in size, that's not even your usual x10 factor ("ordre de grandeur" in French). As for Uranus and Neptune, they're about 20-25 times lighter than Jupiter, granted, but to speak of "debris"... I'm prefectly fine with the term "gas giants", which is consistant regarding the size and mass as well as the composition. The Earth is a real debri, but what a debri !!

 

[mdwh]

Out of interest - imagine we were alien observers looking at our solar system for the first time, and imagine somehow we evolved somewhere other than a normal star system. So we have no historical definitions we wanted to cling to, and no special attachment to Earth or the Moon. How would we categorise the bodies?

I can't help feeling it would be something like: Sun/Star, 4 gas giants, and large numbers of much smaller bodies, either in orbit about the sun, a gas giant, or another of the bodies. Maybe "moons" would be categorised seperately, I don't know.

 

[Masquerouge]

Out of interest - imagine we were alien observers looking at our solar system for the first time, and imagine somehow we evolved somewhere other than a normal star system. So we have no historical definitions we wanted to cling to, and no special attachment to Earth or the Moon. How would we categorise the bodies?

I can't help feeling it would be something like: Sun/Star, 4 gas giants, and large numbers of much smaller bodies, either in orbit about the sun, a gas giant, or another of the bodies. Maybe "moons" would be categorised seperately, I don't know.

My understanding was that so far, the majority of the planets discovered outside our solar system would put Jupiter to shame in terms of size.
So I'm not even sure that the term "giant" would be applied to our gas planets...

 

[Perfection]

Out of interest - imagine we were alien observers looking at our solar system for the first time, and imagine somehow we evolved somewhere other than a normal star system. So we have no historical definitions we wanted to cling to, and no special attachment to Earth or the Moon. How would we categorise the bodies?

I'd say the natural classification is (in decreasing importance) the 4 gas giants (with Jupiter/Saturn and Uranus/Neptune being in different subcatories) and thier moons/trojans, the 4 terrestrial planets (and thier moons/trojans), the KBOs and Oort Cloud objects, the main asteroid belt, smaller minor-planet groups, isolated minor bodies.

 

[Perfection]

My understanding was that so far, the majority of the planets discovered outside our solar system would put Jupiter to shame in terms of size.

Well, that's just becase huge planets are easier to find.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Perfection, didn't we spend like a month and a half sorting this out once?

If only the IAU folks would peruse OT more thoroughly, they'd change their minds.

And here it is:

What Constitutes a Planet?

 

[warpus]

Out of interest - imagine we were alien observers looking at our solar system for the first time, and imagine somehow we evolved somewhere other than a normal star system. So we have no historical definitions we wanted to cling to, and no special attachment to Earth or the Moon. How would we categorise the bodies?

We would attempt to adapt our already-existing definitions to objects in the newly discovered solar system. These definitions would be based on objects in our home solar system.

It'd be much like what we're doing with the details we're discovering about neighbouring solar systems.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

My solution is the most sensible one: draw circles around the sun. The first circle is Earths orbit. Every large non satellite body within that circle is called a Class 1 planet (or call it whatever, thats besides the point). Draw another circle, the orbit of Uranus. Uranus and Jupiter would be called Class 2 planets. Finally, make another circle with the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. These two would be Class 3 planets. Any other large bodies discovered beyond that would be Class 4s.

All things being equal, basing it on distance from the sun is a simple 'elegant' solution.

 

[IglooDame]

Why don't they just ask the cartographers about their 'continent' classification? Surely they could learn something there...

 

[Masquerouge]

Well, that's just becase huge planets are easier to find.

My point is, if we know for certain there are planets much bigger than Jupiter, I'm not sure an alien race coming to classify our planetary system will use the term "giants" to refer to our gas planets.

 

[Perfection]

My point is, if we know for certain there are planets much bigger than Jupiter, I'm not sure an alien race coming to classify our planetary system will use the term "giants" to refer to our gas planets.

Yeah, they might just call them, "Gas Balls" or something.

 

[brennan]

I humbly submit that Perfection will never be satisfied with his post count: perhaps we should have a planet named after him? (The egotistical swine )

 

[El_Machinae]

MoO III pretty well answered the question about how aliens would view our system ...

 

[Perfection]

MoO III pretty well answered the question about how aliens would view our system ...

How does MoO III view our system

I humbly submit that Perfection will never be satisfied with his post count: perhaps we should have a planet named after him? (The egotistical swine )

Meh, I don't care about postcount that much.

EDIT:

I BEAT CURT!!!!

98,431 down, 1 to go!

 

[The Last Conformist]

Why don't they just ask the cartographers about their 'continent' classification? Surely they could learn something there...

You'd be better off asking the geologists (and no, Europe isn't a continent sensu technico).

 

[Rossiya]

i like the additions. i thought i wouldn't see the day that more planets are added.