Solar System (5th supplementary nomination)

edit

This topic is already featured. It is being re-nominated to add additional items. See Wikipedia talk:Featured topics/Solar System for discussions of the topic's previous nominations. The additional items are:

  1. Io
  2. Europa
  3. Ganymede
  4. Callisto
  5. Titan
  6. Triton
Main page Articles
Solar System Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Ceres, Asteroid belt, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, Neptune, Triton, Pluto, Kuiper belt, Eris, Scattered disc, Oort cloud

These six featured articles represent a large segment of the Solar System's geography. The "big seven" moons, as astronomers call them, fill a "mass gap" in the Solar System between the planets and the dwarf planets. The smallest big moon, Triton, is larger than all the smaller moons put together. These moons are also highly evolved worlds in their own right, with weather, complex geology, and the possibility of life. This nomination also gives a reason for the Moon to be included that is more than historical. Serendipodous 09:14, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support. Great work, and a quite sensible addition. I guess now would be the time to consider altering the box by indenting the moons under their respective planets, and the dwarf planets under their respective "belts" (this has been suggested in the past).--Pharos (talk) 18:22, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A topic can not be subdivided only split into different topics. Zginder (talk) (Contrib) 18:27, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I mean the display of items in Wikipedia:Featured topics/Solar System, in a way so that it is clear which moons belong to which planets, etc. This would not be dividing the topic, but merely making the topic box easier to read.--Pharos (talk) 18:35, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Like this. Serendipodous 18:36, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Question — I'm a bit weary about whether these really are special enough that they can be added while the rest of the moons aren't. Does the "Big Seven" classification have any official recognition the way that the "Dwarf Planet" classification does? --Arctic Gnome (talkcontribs) 20:04, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It isn't official, but these seven moons are all larger than all the smaller moons in the Solar System combined, which is not true of any of the smaller moons. Serendipodous 20:45, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Considering that there are 166 moons orbiting the eight planets, and most written treatments concentrate only on the major ones, I think this is a reasonable cut-off, as it is one that has been used by several astronomers.--Pharos (talk) 20:56, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Definitely, this is a reasonable cut-off. Anyone familiar with the list of Solar System bodies would recognize a dividing line between Triton (seventh of seven) and the smaller moons. It would be sort of nuts to expect that all of the moons in the Solar System (an ever growing group) should be FA before we add them to this featured topic. These seven are a logical dividing line, buttressed by sources. Marskell (talk) 21:20, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We could eventually get every moon in the solar system in the article by getting pages like Moons of Saturn up to FL status. It would be a lot esier than featuring each individual moon. --Arctic Gnome (talkcontribs) 17:30, 2 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've been trying to get Formation and evolution of the Solar System up to FT inclusion standard for over a year, so I think the topic name is fine. Serendipodous 09:35, 4 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]