[pjd]

The definition doesn’t even work for planets in our own solar system. If Pluto is not a planet because it hasn’t cleared its orbit, then neither is Jupiter.

Jupiter’s orbit happens to contain two clusters of asteroids called Trojans. They lie 60 degrees ahead and 60 degrees behind Jupiter, right smack in Jupiter’s orbit. So this criteria also disqualifies Jupiter as a planet.

They clearly did not think this through!

[SunkenCiv]

I wholeheartedly agree.

"To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet.