Toddsterpatriot
Diamond Member
The definition used for "planet" is now "cleaned out gravitational well" meaning its orbit will never slam it into another planet. Pluto will eventually hit... Neptune
That's not what it means, idiot.
By your "definition", Neptune isn't a planet, because it will eventually hit Pluto.
In the end stages of planet formation, a planet, as so defined, will have "cleared the neighbourhood" of its own orbital zone, i.e. removed other bodies of comparable size. A large body that meets the other criteria for a planet but has not cleared its neighbourhood is classified as a dwarf planet. This includes Pluto, whose orbit intersects with Neptune's orbit and shares its orbital neighbourhood with many Kuiper belt objects.
It's the Kuiper belt objects, not Neptune, that caused the downgrade for Pluto,
