IAU Planet Definition Under Attack

Diary of a planet's demise, Nature (subscription)

"I am just disgusted by the way the IAU, which is meant to represent the best in science, handled this matter," says Alan Stern ... "We do not classify objects in astronomy by what they are near," he says. "We classify them by their properties."

Editor's note: NASA Watch has learned that the words attributed to Mark Sykes in this article are not accurate and that a correction by Nature has been requested. However Nature may have misquoted him, Sykes tells NASA Watch "I think the IAU definition is fundamentally flawed. I think a better definition can be easily obtained, getting a community consensus will require a thoughtful process that is far more inclusive and open than the IAU process was."