redbird: the famous Apollo photo of Earth from space, with clouds (earth)
([personal profile] redbird Aug. 26th, 2006 07:41 am)
I don't care much whether Pluto is called a planet, though it's nice seeing people actually talk about the Solar System.

But any definition of a planet that excludes Earth and Jupiter is worthless. "Sweeps out its orbit" is a kludgy phrasing to deal with the Neptune:Pluto 3:2 resonance, but no matter how you phrase it, Pluto is still there, crossing Neptune's orbit, and half the planets in the system have associated asteroids.

From: [identity profile] purplecthulhu.livejournal.com


'Sweeps out its orbit' may be a simplified description of a more technical concept. I've not seen the details of the resolution though, but its meant to have been influenced by dynamicists who would be a bit more detailed than this description.
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redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
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