3.1 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Stern | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Stern | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:09:54.307085+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Planetary classification == Stern has become involved in the debate surrounding the 2006 definition of planet by the IAU. After the IAU's decision was made he was quoted as saying "It's an awful definition; it's sloppy science and it would never pass peer review" and claimed that Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune have not fully cleared their orbital zones and has stated in his capacity as PI of the New Horizons project that "The New Horizons project [...] will not recognize the IAU's planet definition resolution of August 24, 2006." A 2000 paper by Stern and Levison proposed a system of planet classification that included both the concepts of hydrostatic equilibrium and clearing the neighbourhood used in the new definition, with a proposed classification scheme labeling all sub-stellar objects in hydrostatic equilibrium as "planets" and subclassifying them into "überplanets" and "unterplanets" based on a mathematical analysis of the planet's ability to scatter other objects out of its orbit over a long period of time. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were classified as neighborhood-clearing "überplanets" and Pluto was classified as an "unterplanet".
=== Satellite planets and belt planets === Some large satellites are of similar size or larger than the planet Mercury, e.g. Jupiter's Galilean moons and Titan. Stern has argued that location should not matter and only geophysical attributes should be taken into account in the definition of a planet, and proposes the term satellite planet for a planet-sized object orbiting another planet. Likewise planet-sized objects in the asteroid belt or Kuiper belt should also be planets according to Stern. Others have used the neologism planemo (planetary-mass object) for the broad concept of "planet" advocated by Stern.
== Selected bibliography == Stern, S. Alan (1987). The U.S. Space Program After Challenger. New York: Franklin-Watts. ISBN 0-531-10412-5. Stern, S. Alan, ed. (1998). Our Worlds: The Magnetism and Thrill of Planetary Exploration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63164-5. Stern, S. Alan, ed. (2000). Our Universe. Cambridge University Press. Stern, S. Alan, ed. (2003). Worlds Beyond: The Thrill of Planetary Exploration as told by Leading Experts. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52001-0. Stern, S. Alan (April 2013). "The low-cost ticket to space". Space Exploration. Scientific American. 308 (4): 50–55. Bibcode:2013SciAm.308d..68S. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0413-68. PMID 23539792. Stern, S. Alan; Mitton, Jacqueline (2005) [1997]. Pluto and Charon: Ice Worlds on the Ragged Edge of the Solar System. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 3-527-40556-9. Stern, Alan; Grinspoon, David (2018). Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto. Picador. ISBN 978-1-2500-9896-2. Stern, S. Alan (August 10, 2021). The Pluto System After New Horizons. University of Arizona Press. p. 688. ISBN 978-0816540945.
== References ==