What is it about?

The IAU definition of 'planet' needs improvement because it is neither quantitative nor general. I proposed a simple criterion that can be used to quantify, generalize, and simplify the definition. This criterion makes it possible to immediately classify 99% of all known exoplanets. All 8 planets and all classifiable exoplanets satisfy the criterion.

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Why is it important?

Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered. Are they planets? If Planet Nine exists, is it a planet? The current definition of 'planet' excludes all of these bodies and defines only eight planets. It is important to revise the definition of 'planet' so that we can classify newly discovered bodies and communicate with one another.

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This page is a summary of: A QUANTITATIVE CRITERION FOR DEFINING PLANETS, The Astronomical Journal, December 2015, Institute of Physics Publishing,
DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/150/6/185.
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