For my utterly uneducated OPINION, maybe we should look at the effect a
proposed "planet" has on the rest of the stellar system, via gravity. That
way, dim massive bodies don't get overlooked for bright tiny icy ones.
Rocks that are largely, well, rocks could be called "asteroids", ones that
are largely icy "Plutons" or "crutons" :), and ones that get perturbed
towards the inner stellar system could either be called "comets" or "major
disasters", depending where they are heading. Planetary systems that orbit
each other, rather than the Sun, can be considered in common, as would be
the Earth-Luna system, or Pluto-Chiron.
An arbitrary cutoff could be established, and varied depending on the system
thus studied, but I can hear the Europan Confederation howling right now!
Tracy Latimer
______________________________________________
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
