Three New Planets May Join the Solar System

There will be at least 12 planets in our solar system, and probably many more, if a new definition of the word planet is adopted. Next week the International Astronomical Union will vote on a draft definition of what distinguishes a planet from lesser space rocks. The new scheme would retain Pluto — previously threatened with ejection from the club — but it would also admit several new members, including the former asteroid Ceres, and even Charon, which until now has been classed as Pluto’s moon. Writers John Scalzi and Scott Westerfield have been having something of an on-going barney over whether or not Pluto is a planet and the whole thing resulted in Cthulhu adjudicating