NATS 1570 Final: Earth Final Exam
10 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Earth is the planet in the solar system we know best - in studying other objects in our solar system we start here and look at how other objects are similar or different from earth. This tells us not only about the other bodies, but gives us more insight into the nature of earth itself. We sometimes refer to this as comparative planetology. Recently (aug. 2006) the iau has finally come up with a definitive definition of a planet. This definition ends up excluding pluto, so now officially there are eight planets in our solar system. The basic requirements are: it orbits the sun. 2. it has sufficient mass to be spherical in shape (this is due to gravity) 3. it has cleared" its planetary orbit of other objects. Since pluto and a few others do not meet the 3rd criteria they are defined as dwarf planets".
