The Snowflake Chronicles

Defining a Planet

4 Asma 163 B.E. - August 23, 2006 A.D.

What is a planet? That is a question I've never been worried about until recently, now with all the controversy over a new definition and whether or not Pluto is a planet or another type of heavenly body; I'm considering the the definition of planet. One very simple definition is "... a large heavenly body that shines by reflected light and orbits the Sun." (Gibor Basri of the University of California at Berkeley) This definition is part of my personal definition of planet. However, my definition of planet goes beyond this; I write science fiction so when I write about a planet, I'm thinking of a world with an atmosphere. My definition of course goes beyond far beyond this.

My individual, personal definition of planet is the results of many different bits of knowledge gleaned from several different sources. I remember the first definition for planet I learn as a child. This had to do with "wander", it had something to do with "wandering star" or something similar. However, I started reading science fiction when I was young. I couldn't get enough of stories about Mars and worlds. I enjoy stories that take places on other planets and in other star systems.

Another input to my definition of planet comes from meditating on the following verse: "... Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 162)

So to state my definition of planet: A planet is a world that orbits a star with an atmosphere with some type of living creatures. This of course brings up the discussion of life on Mars and other worlds of this solar system, we've only used machines to explore these planets and we're looking for life as we experience it here on Earth, so we're still unable to make the decision one way or another.