NATS 1880 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: International Astronomical Union, Small Solar System Body, Solar Wind
8 Dec 2020
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Document Summary
Relatively recently (aug. 2006) the international astronomical union (iau) decided upon a definition for a planet. This definition excludes pluto as a planet, so now officially there are eight planets in our solar system. Pluto and a few others do not meet the 3rd criteria they are defined as dwarf planets . Any object that only meets the first criteria is now referred to as a small solar system body (like asteroids, comets etc. Please note this only applies to objects in our solar system. All the factors - physical geology, wind (air), water, etc. , and how they combine in complex ways, make up an environment. As a result of these factors that vary over the surface of the planet, there are many different environments and corresponding ecologies that develop to take advantage of the conditions. The complex interactions of the organisms in these different ecologies results in the integrated system of life on earth (the terrestrial biosphere).
