IAU Redefines the Solar System: 12 Planets, Countless Possibilities

[Reshma]

"My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets", the famous mnemonic to remember the names of the nine planets when we were kids viz. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
I wonder what kind new mnemonic has to be invented with the recent developments in the order of planets .

 

[LURCH]

Yeah, that is kind of a cop-out, isn't it? I mean, by that definition, Neptune should also be downgraded, because it hasn't cleared Pluto out of its orbit.

 

[Quaoar]

It seems to me they picked a definition where they can call anything a planet or a non-planet, depending on how they "feel" about the object. Really, this whole process was a complete waste of time, and the definition they came up with is downright pathetic.

 

[LURCH]

Come to think of it, since there are still thousands of NEO's, we don't live on a planet, do we?

 

[Line]

How could there be 12 when they just announced Pluto isn't a planet?

 

[yenchin]

How could there be 12 when they just announced Pluto isn't a planet?

They initially proposed 12 planets, the proposal is then rejected and ended up with demoting pluto instead.

 

[FeynmanMH42]

I'm happy with everything the IAU has done, except "dwarf planets." While Pluto was a planet it had "double status" as a planet and a Kuiper belt object; now it's simply a "dwarf planet" and nothing else. Pluto and Eris (Xena) are clearly just very big Kuiper belt objects, and while I'm happy with the dwarf-planet classification to make them special (Pluto and Eris are special because they're so large and rounded) I think they should also have dual status as dwarf planets and KBOs. They are clearly KBOs and should be recognised as such.
Ceres is an asteroid. Don't tell me it's not. OK, it's special, it deserves to be classed as a dwarf planet because it's large and round, yeah yeah. But... it's clearly an asteroid. Just a big one. How can you possibly say it isn't?
I'd be happy with 8 or 12 planets, as long as Pluto/Eris were recognised as KBOs as well as (dwarf) planets and Ceres was an asteroid as well as a (dwarf) planet.