[Home]History of Double planet

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Revision 7 . . (edit) December 1, 2001 6:21 am by (logged).128.164.xxx [removed mid-word space]
Revision 6 . . November 26, 2001 1:39 am by Bryan Derksen
Revision 5 . . November 26, 2001 1:35 am by Bryan Derksen
Revision 4 . . September 15, 2001 2:49 am by Zundark [wikification, minor rewriting]
  

Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

Changed: 1c1
A double planet is a set of two planets of comparable mass orbiting one another. There is some debate on where to draw the line between a double planet and a system consisting of a planet and moon. In most cases, the moon is of very small mass relative to its host planet. However, there are some examples of moon/planet mass ratios much greater than average: particularly, the Earth and its Moon, and Pluto with its moon Charon. A commonly accepted cutoff point is when the common point that the two objects orbit around is not located inside either body, in which case Pluto and Charon count as a double planet and Earth does not (the issue of whether Pluto is a planet at all or is instead simply a large Kuiper belt object is a separate matter). Hypothetically, the moon/planet mass ratios between two bodies could vary anywhere between zero through one, where two planets of exactly the same mass orbit each other.
A double planet is a set of two planets of comparable mass orbiting one another. There is some debate on where to draw the line between a double planet and a system consisting of a planet and moon. In most cases, the moon is of very small mass relative to its host planet. However, there are some examples of moon/planet mass ratios much greater than average: particularly, the Earth and its Moon, and Pluto with its moon Charon. A commonly accepted cutoff point is when the common point that the two objects orbit around is not located inside either body, in which case Pluto and Charon count as a double planet and Earth does not (the issue of whether Pluto is a planet at all or is instead simply a large Kuiper belt object is a separate matter). There is no "official" definition, however; the term "double planet" is an informal one. Hypothetically, the moon/planet mass ratios between two bodies could vary anywhere between zero through one, where two planets of exactly the same mass orbit each other.

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