
273: John's Shark Bite
Dear Hank & John
00:00
Planet Money
A planet is actually, weirdly enough, defined as being spherical. So in order for a body to be considered a planet, it has to be spherical. It's not the only qualifying characteristic, but it is one of them. A big enough object will turn itself into a sphere,. We find that a convenient place to kind of draw a line as to what a planet is. And that's why things like res which is the largest object in the asteroid belt. Is a dwarf planet because they are large enoughto form themselves into a sphere. The earth, if you averaged it out and like shrunk it down, is smoother than a pool ball. Well, so it's extremely spherical.
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