Is 'planemo' a useful new term?

[matt-browne-sfw]

A planemo is a celestial object with mass greater than that of an irregularly shaped asteroid, yet smaller than a nuclear reactive brown dwarf or star. The term covers all bodies within this size range, although most planemos that orbit stars are more regularly referred to with the more specific term, planet (see also dwarf planet). Planemo is a contraction of planetary mass object. The term has yet to achieve common usage in the scientific community.

 

[The Ace]

I wonder why. It sounds like the latest gadget for keeping your lawn under control.

 

[chrispenycate]

So, a number of moons (including ours) fall into this category, Reasinable, as a couple of Jupiter's are on the scale of a small planet.

 

[Pyan]

The term has yet to achieve common usage in the scientific community.

Possibly because it's too embracing, and would need narrowing down in a specific use?

 

[Nik]

IMHO, even a spin-doctor would have problems making 'planemo' stick...

Snag is there's no good term for round stuff that's mostly solid --wriggle-room for eg Europan subsurface ocean-- rather than Neptunian or Jovian...

From recent reports on lanes in circum-stellar star-dust, there's probably a zoo of them around majority of stars, plus a bunch beyond Pluto in our Kuiper Belt...

 

[matt-browne-sfw]

I would say nice try. Taxonomies do change over time. Let see how long the notion of dwarf planets and planemos last...