Pluto has the distinct advantage of being considered a planet for a while that those one lack. I’m sure after OP visited them all it’ll be docked points for its size.
WTF did Pluto ever do to you? We finally get a decent photo and it’s got a big heart on it. Pluto is trying to make things work and you go on about how it’s not special.
Dwarf planets should count too. So should most of the moons. Anywhere you could land and walk around should be considered a world. It kind of misrepresents our solar system to think of it as only having 8 or 9 important bodies orbiting the Sun just because some of them are gravitationally entangled with each other.
I think we need a new category that includes dwarf planets and moons, but does not include gas giants and anything too small to have an atmosphere. Basically a “could be terraformed in a sci-fi novel” category.
the thing about an atmosphere is that it protects you from a lot of radiation. like, alpha radiation makes a significant part of the radiation hitting you in outer space, but it’s too weak to go through a sheet of paper so it’s also gonna be stopped by an atmosphere of a planet. and the same goes for beta radiation, which is also easily stopped by an atmosphere. and that’s significant because it protects you from like 99% of all (particle) radiation.
on top of that an atmosphere replenishes volatile chemicals like CO2 and H2O all the time (or at least some volatile molecules) and that’s nice-to-have.
Also important is the heat capacity of the atmosphere. Even if the atmosphere is thin, it makes a lot of difference. I should go about calculating the difference that mars’ atmosphere makes in terms of temperature sometimes. Like, how hot/cold would it be in the day/night if it didn’t have an atmosphere. I guess it would be more extreme, but by how much? I should look into that sometime.
If you’re gonna include Pluto you gotta include like 9 or 10 other dwarf planets too.
Yeah, where’s all the love for 120347 Salacia?
Pluto has the distinct advantage of being considered a planet for a while that those one lack. I’m sure after OP visited them all it’ll be docked points for its size.
WTF did Pluto ever do to you? We finally get a decent photo and it’s got a big heart on it. Pluto is trying to make things work and you go on about how it’s not special.
I think you’re just racist against dwarf planets.
Damn plutocrats
Dwarf planets should count too. So should most of the moons. Anywhere you could land and walk around should be considered a world. It kind of misrepresents our solar system to think of it as only having 8 or 9 important bodies orbiting the Sun just because some of them are gravitationally entangled with each other.
I think we need a new category that includes dwarf planets and moons, but does not include gas giants and anything too small to have an atmosphere. Basically a “could be terraformed in a sci-fi novel” category.
the thing about an atmosphere is that it protects you from a lot of radiation. like, alpha radiation makes a significant part of the radiation hitting you in outer space, but it’s too weak to go through a sheet of paper so it’s also gonna be stopped by an atmosphere of a planet. and the same goes for beta radiation, which is also easily stopped by an atmosphere. and that’s significant because it protects you from like 99% of all (particle) radiation.
on top of that an atmosphere replenishes volatile chemicals like CO2 and H2O all the time (or at least some volatile molecules) and that’s nice-to-have.
Also important is the heat capacity of the atmosphere. Even if the atmosphere is thin, it makes a lot of difference. I should go about calculating the difference that mars’ atmosphere makes in terms of temperature sometimes. Like, how hot/cold would it be in the day/night if it didn’t have an atmosphere. I guess it would be more extreme, but by how much? I should look into that sometime.
That would disqualify the gas giants. I think the criteria needs workshopping…
I meant it to be taken as sufficient but not required
Erin ranks higher than Pluto and I will fight anyone who thinks otherwise