New Reliance has finally arrived at Plock; debate about planethood is reignited
Year 29, Day 368
The deep space probe New Reliance by KSA has finally arrived at Plock and taken stunning pictures of it along with studying it; and some question whether the KAS's (Kerbin Astronomical Society) decision on Plock being a dwarf planet is justified.
"New Reliance arrived at Plock much earlier than we thought it was going to," said KSA when asked about the mission results.
New Reliance gathered crucial info about the outer reaches of the Kerbolar System, and more specifically, Plock itself. Thanks to the mission, we now know that Plock is:
- Round
- Extremely cold
- Bland
And also the fact that Plock's moon, Karen, is much more visually interesting than Plock itself.
However, even seeing how planet-like Plock looks from countless images taken, the KAS refuses to give it back its planethood. So, why?
Well, it turns out, the answer is far more simple than many think. And no, it's not just to make many mad.
The KAS now says a celestial object has to meet three criteria to be considered a planet. Those are:
- It must orbit Kerbol.
- It must have gravity strong enough to pull it into at least a round-ish shape.
- It must have cleared its local neighborhood of substantial debris.
Plock meets the first two criteria; but not the third. Plock is simply too small to clear its neighborhood of debris, meaning Kuiper Belt objects.
It's kind of sad, knowing that Plock will (likely) never be classified as a planet ever again, but think of it this way: it still has "planet" in the name (dwarf planet).
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