What is a planet? As it turns out, the struggle to define what constitutes a planet is closely tied to our understanding of the Universe, which has evolved considerably in the past twenty years.
Given how Western astronomers trace their traditions to Classical Antiquity , the term has remained in use. It was not until the Scientific Revolution - thanks to the contributions of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and others - that our modern understanding of planets began to emerge. Instead of stars revolving around the Earth, astronomers began to think of planets as celestial bodies that orbited the Sun.
Between 2002 and 2007, the team discovered the large TNOs Quaoar , Sedna , Orcus, Salacia, and Haumea , Eris and Makemake , and Gonggong . The discovery of these and other objects revived a long-running dispute within the scientific community over the classification of TNOs and whether or not they should be included as "planets."
Last but certainly not least, extrasolar planets have been discovered with increasing frequency since the turn of the century. Dozens were detected in 2006 alone, and astronomers knew the numbers would continue to climb, especially with the launch of theDue to these issues, there were concerns that astronomy nomenclature needed to be updated to reflect a changing understanding.
Notably, the General Assembly indicated that by this definition, Pluto was no longer a "Planet" and had been relegated to "Dwarf Planet." While Pluto orbits the Sun and is spherical, its position in the Kuiper Belt meant that it had not "cleared its orbit." By this same definition, TNOs like Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and other bodies discovered in the Kuiper Belt were also classified as "Dwarf Planets.
"At that point, the majority of the original 2100 conference attendees, including Planet Definition Committee Chair Owen Gingerich, had already gone home. Neither he nor any of those who left early knew of the plans to put a different resolution to a vote. Most of those who stayed behind and voted were not planetary scientists but other types of astronomers.
"The term "clear its orbit" is highly ambiguous. No planet has fully cleared its orbit of asteroids; Jupiter orbits with many Trojans, and Neptune has not cleared its orbit of Pluto. Several exoplanet systems with two giant planets that cross one another's orbit have been discovered.
"And then extrasolar planets start popping up all over the galaxy. And next thing you know, there are 1000s of planets, and some people go can't cope can't have that. So the only planets, according to the IAU, are the planets in our Solar System. And they just wanted to come up with a reason that they could keep the numbers small. So gravitational dominance became their sieve."
"What's brilliant is that scientists are voting with their feet . When they write a scientific paper, no one is asking them to make a choice, but they make a choice in their head. They call these things planets. And that's really where the mindset of planetary scientists are." According to Metzger, the problem with the IAU definition comes down to a simple matter of scientific vs. astrological traditions. From ancient times to Classical Antiquity and the Medieval Era, the perception of planets was of "wandering stars" and "heavenly spheres" that were part of an ordered system. However, since the time of Copernicus and Galileo, the perception has shifted to one where planets became viewed as bodies similar to Earth.
"The IAU resolution really just reaffirmed what had long ago been established: there are planets, and there are members of small body populations. The fact that we mistakenly classified Pluto as a planet for so long – because we didn't realize it was a member of a small body population – made it seem like we were changing definitions, but we were simply reaffirming the old ones.
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