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The IAU draft definition of 'planet' and 'plutons' (914 words) |
 | IAU President Ron Ekers explains the rational behind a planet definition: "Modern science provides much more knowledge than the simple fact that objects orbiting the Sun appear to move with respect to the background of fixed stars. |
| IAU's top, the so-called Executive Committee, led by Ekers, formed a Planet Definition Committee (PDC) comprised by seven persons who were astronomers, writers, and historians with broad international representation. |
| Currently a dozen "candidate planets" are listed on IAU's "watchlist" which keeps changing as new objects are found and the physics of the existing candidates becomes better known. |
| IAU Website: HOME (178 words) |
| However, the IAU maintains friendly relations also with organizations that include amateur astronomers in their membership. |
| The IAU is composed of 8,858 Individual Members in 85 different countries worldwide out of which 62 are National Members (according to statistics of August 2006). |
| The IAU also serves as the internationally recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. |
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