Quote:
Originally posted by Roger Lee
my biggest question is: what's the difference?
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I think the difference is that planets have a certain status that's different than other objects. Elementary school students learn the names of the nine planets. They don't learn about Oort Cloud objects or the dozens of comets. They don't learn the names of the asteroids or the names of the many moons. Planets have some sort of mystical ascribed status.
In other words, it's totally freaking cool to say, "We've got a tenth planet!" It's not so cool to say, "We've got a 35th Oort Cloud Object!"