From: boris (mabeyke@batman.b11.ingr.com)
Date: Tue 26 Apr 1994 - 17:22:44 EEST
Just a quick comment. In X-RQ-ID: 3800 Joerg said:
> Astronomy:
> I looked up the meaning of planet. Webster's yielded (p.1101 unabridged
> 1989 edition):
> "c. (formerly) a celestial body moving in the sky, as distinguished from
> a fixed star, formerly applied also to the sun and moon."
>
> This leaves me where I came from: what does make any celestial body a moon?
> Must it undergo phases? Does the Blue Streak?
It seems to me that (other than a few anamalous cases, such as Orlanth's Ring) the following classification holds in the Big Lozenge:
o Celestial bodies that are "part of" the Sky Dome and have a fixed
position relative to it are stars.
o Celestial bodies that are "part of" the Sky Dome and do not have a
fixed position relative to it (i.e. that move around on it) are
planets.
o Celestial bodies that "hang below" the Sky Dome, at least part of the
time, are moons.
Of course, this gives the counterintuitive answer that Yelm the Sun is a planet. But then, He is most likely another special case.
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