Talk:List of Solar System objects

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Contents 1 Natural satellite size limit criteria. 2 Sedna 3 Zones. 4 Templates vs. static duplicated text. 5 Sortable Wikitable

[edit] Natural satellite size limit criteria.

What are the criteria for whether a moon gets listed on this page? natural satellite has a fairly complete list of all the moons in the solar system. While it is clear that there are too many to list on this page, there doesn't seem to be criteria as to what should be listed - size seems to be a fairly obvious criterion (i.e. only list moons >100 km in diameter or something), but that is definitely not being followed now. As well, there are some moons which are arguably more "important" than others, but are smaller (i.e. Mars' moons Deimos and Phobos are smaller that many of Jupiter's lesser moons, but are better known). Anyone have any ideas?

-lommer 04:43, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC) P.S. I think it may ultimately be easier to stick with the ad-hoc system thats in use now...

The page started out as having moons >1000km (as it says on the line starting with Planets). You just put in Mars' moons, which is the first violation of that criterion. So, in the long-term, we either need to remove Mars' moons or change the criterion. I'll temporarily remove Mars' moons until we settle on the criterion. -- hike395 05:38, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sedna

It seems that Sedna is a trans-Kuiper object, but not a member of Oort cloud.--Nixer 20:51, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree. Until astronomers understand how it got the orbit that it has, its Oort cloud status is very doubtful. I've changed its heading to "Possibly inner Oort Cloud" Deuar 13:21, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Further to this point, I've tweaked it slightly by placing the description "possibly inner Oort Cloud" following "Sedna". A small change, but I think it makes the theory clearer. (Sedna is thus presented as an SDO that is possibly part of the inner Oort Cloud; with the previous version, there's no connection to the Scattered Disc.) Thoughts? --Ckatz^chat_spy 21:25, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Better. Deuar 19:55, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the Oort Cloud a hypothetical mass? Thus Sedna is not be a member of the Oort Cloud, since the Oort Cloud is only a proposed mass. Am I missing something, or is that a correct statement? --Iamunknown 14:47, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I suppose it could be a member of this hypothetical mass (although I doubt it). Deuar 15:17, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Zones.

A quick Google search only gave me [1] which has "ZONE III (OUTER) a = 2.825 to 3.279 AU", some non astronomy articles, and mirrors of this Wikipedia article. Nixer please cite your sources before reverting a zoneless version of the article. — Jeandré, 2005-09-25t11:39z

[edit] Templates vs. static duplicated text.

Wouldn't it be better to use the templates since they're usually more complete, more up to date, and will reduce inconsistencies and unnecessary denormalizations? -- Jeandré, 2006-07-15t19:26z

I don't know. I entertained that thought. On my third edit of the list, however, I deleted the template (see the diff). I thought that the template was unnecessary because the list had the exact same content. Granted, the list is not as complete as the template, but the list does provides links to other articles/lists by which a user may find every other link exclusively on the template.

In his recent edit, however, Tompw added the template back in (see the diff). I think that since both he and I have been bold in removing and then adding the template, that it should now seriously be discussed here.

--Iamunknown 15:04, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Note: I just noticed that the article exclusively has some links, while the template exclusively has others. Both should include at least a link to another list, if not directly to other articles, for all astronomical objects and regions.

I think the templates should then be updated to include the missing links, and the templates transcluded into this article. -- Jeandré, 2006-09-16t07:30z

Do you propose that the template should be the exclusive content displayed in the article? Or should it be transcluded before or after the existing list? Please elaborate.

I identified two additional issues with the template: (1) the article is currently identified as, and organized by, orbit, while the template is not; and (2) it does not currently display a conspicuous nav line to the lists of objects by mass and by radius.

I am still unconvinced of the option to exlusively include the template and of the option to include both the template and the current list. (1) While the three lists are not entirely consistent because of the nature of their data, they are all three in their basic forms lists, with information descending vertically down the page. The template, however, is not in its basic form a list. It is organized as a template. To promote the current consistency, I argue that the list should be either exclusively or not exclusively used. (2) To include both the list and the template is merely confusing. The list is by orbit, as the nav line currently identifies this article as, whereas the template is not. To include a list by orbit, and a table not by orbit, is confusing and nonsensical. (3) Furthermore, the list is well-behaved if the viewer has an increased text size, whereas the template does not. The template expands beyond the screen size, which could possibly decrease readability and usability (irreparably or not) on certain mediums. The list, however, expands within the allowed screen size.

In review, I argue that the list should be used exclusively in order to reduce confusion, promote consistency, and to ensure both readability and usability.

--Iamunknown 07:28, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

The lists are doing a good job, and in this case are more complete than the templates. I think we should keep them the way they are. Furthermore, there are several places in this list where the brief several-word explanations are very useful. Template boxes are not suited for this. Deuar 14:24, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sortable Wikitable

Shouldn't we merge all the sub-articles (by orbit/mass/radius) into one with a sortable wikitable; like the one in List of countries by population density article. This would look more organized. — Ambuj Saxena (☎) 18:27, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Seems like a nice idea on the face of it, but I don't know... It would be technically messy - As an example, grouping by orbit is best done as a two-tier hierarchy - first by semi-major axis from the Sun, then a separate sort for satellites of each planet. As a technical aside, the sorting of List of countries by population density is badly broken - it sorts by the leading digit, which is useless (for example, placing 9.9 as higher than 85). Is this fixable or a "feature"? Deuar 14:59, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

There are still some bugs, but if all the cells are filled and it uses only numbers and decimal points (.) (no commas (,)), it's useful. See List of countries by murder rate. -- Jeandré, 2006-12-19t20:27z

Commas are also allowed, provided that leading " " codes are used, and no numbers are negative, see South_America#Territories.--Patrick 11:46, 23 December 2006 (UTC)