Editorial: The final frontier

Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

Maps and models of the nine-planet solar system could soon be bargain buys if an international astronomers group approves a new definition for planets and adds more of them to the current solar lineup.

Evidently, there is an ongoing controversy over whether tiny Pluto is a real planet. To settle the matter, members of the International Astronomical Union have proposed a new definition for what constitutes a planet. The proposal declares a chunk of space debris to be a planet if it is large enough to have formed into a sphere and it orbits a star, rather than another planet.

The astronomical union is to vote on the definition - and Pluto's fate - on Thursday. If they reject the committee's definition, poor Pluto could perish from planetdom. If they approve the new definition, however, the solar system will welcome as new planets the asteroid Ceres, a celestial body nicknamed Xena and Charon, Pluto's largest moon.

And it won't stop there. Astronomers say at least a dozen other orbiting spheres would qualify as planets under the new definition, and dozens more probably exist beyond those. A solar system map could become as difficult to keep current as the classroom globe.

Whatever the decision, it is sure to elicit ongoing controversy among scientists and may spawn a whole new generation of star-struck youngsters. It's all good. With war raging throughout the Middle East, global warming and a host of other earthly troubles, it is comforting to know that a clear night sky remains a realm of wonder and the unknown.

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