In astronomy, double planet and binary planet are informal terms used to describe a binary system where both objects are of planetary mass. Though not an official classification, the European Space Agency has referred to the Earth–Moon system as a double planet. The IAU General Assembly in August 2006 considered a proposal that Pluto and Charon be reclassified as a double planet, but the proposal was abandoned.
There are also binary asteroids (also known as double minor planets) such as 90 Antiope, and binary Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) such as 79360 Sila–Nunam and 1998 WW31.
Read more about Double Planet: Definition of A Double Planet, Double Planets in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words double and/or planet:
“Even in harmonious families there is this double life: the group life, which is the one we can observe in our neighbour’s household, and, underneath, another—secret and passionate and intense—which is the real life that stamps the faces and gives character to the voices of our friends. Always in his mind each member of these social units is escaping, running away, trying to break the net which circumstances and his own affections have woven about him.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Why should I feel lonely? is not our planet in the Milky Way?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)