What asteroids were called

[mmcirvin]

This history of the naming of asteroids is really good. It's clear from this that the current situation with Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is almost a replay of the nomenclature confusion over the main belt asteroids in the early 19th century.

As Scott Westerfeld pointed out shortly after being eaten by Great Cthulhu, that process ended with none of the asteroids having the status of planet, though the term "minor planet" is still occasionally used today. And it was even somewhat less ambiguous, in that Ceres was both the first main-belt asteroid discovered, the largest, and the one with by far the best claim to being a planet (look at it!) It will be interesting if the debate over Pluto's status ends up with Ceres re-declared a planet as well.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'll put in yet another plug for the solution I've taken to using (IAU or no IAU): drop the unqualified term "planet" altogether, and just use "major planet" for the big eight and "planetesimal" for everything else. (Although I must confess to a certain fondness for Charlie Stross's suggestion of "irritating little shit".)