Wikipedia talk:Featured topics/Solar System

Template:WPSpace

Working definition

Objects within, and history topics related to the Solar System.

there really needs to be a clear(er) definition for the topic now that subtopics are on their way — thus allowing for the topic to be more focused Nergaal (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Improvements

Vital

None.

Potential

All current articles are FAs.

• addition of Discovery and exploration of the Solar System
• addition of List of spherical objects in the Solar System
• addition of Centaur (asteroid)
• addition of Near Earth asteroid

Subtopics

Established

1. Dwarf planets — needs the addition of Haumea (dwarf planet) and possibly Charon (moon).
2. Main asteroid belt—needs the addition of other large asteroids: 511 Davida, 52 Europa and 704 Interamnia, asteroids with satellites and those visited by spacecraft.
3. Galilean moons — will probably be expanded into a Moons of Jupiter subtopic

Under development

1. Jupiter — probable scope: Template:FA-iconJupiter,Atmosphere of Jupiter, Template:FA-iconRings of Jupiter, Template:FA-iconMoons of Jupiter, Template:FA-iconIo (moon), Template:FA-iconEuropa (moon), Template:FA-iconGanymede (moon), Template:FA-iconCallisto (moon), Exploration of Jupiter?, Jupiter Trojan?

probable subtopic: Template:FA-iconMoons of Jupiter — expansion of the Galilean moons topic by adding: Metis (moon), Adrastea (moon), Amalthea (moon), Thebe (moon), Himalia (moon), etc. (where would this end?)

Future subtopics

1. Template:FA-iconSun — Structure of the Sun (Solar core, Chromosphere, etc.), Features of the Sun (Corona, Sunspot, etc.), Heliosphere, Solar wind, The Sun in human culture (Template:FA-iconSolar eclipse), Sunlight
2. Template:FA-iconEarth — Template:FA-iconMoon, History of Earth, Geological history of Earth, Structure of the Earth, plate tectonics, Earth's atmosphere, Earth's magnetosphere
3. Template:FA-iconMercury — Geology, Exploration
4. Template:FA-iconVenus — Geology, Atmosphere, Observations and explorations, Colonization
5. Template:FA-iconUranus — Titania, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Oberon, Atmosphere, Template:FA-iconRings, Moons, Exploration
6. Template:FA-iconNeptune — Template:FA-iconTriton, Discovery, Rings, Moons, Atmosphere, Exploration
7. Template:FA-iconSaturn — Template:FA-iconTitan, Iapetus, Rhea, Dione, Mimas, Template:FA-iconEnceladus, Tethys, Atmosphere, Rings, Moons, Exploration
8. Template:FA-iconMars — Geology of Mars, Atmosphere, Geography, Moons, Life on Mars, Colonization, Exploration
9. Template:FA-iconFormation and evolution — Template:FA-iconNebular hypothesis, Stellar evolution, Stability of the Solar System, Late Heavy Bombardment, Andromeda-Milky Way collision
10. Discovery and exploration — Template:FA-iconTimeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons, Template:FA-iconPlanets beyond Neptune, Vulcan, Timeline of solar system astronomy, Timeline of Solar System exploration, Heliocentrism, Giant impact hypothesis,History of Solar System formation and evolution hypotheses, Planetary migration, Human spaceflight

Planet topics

These are not technically part of the Solar System topic.

1. Template:FA-iconPlanet – Terrestrial planet, Gas giant, Rogue planet, Template:FA-iconExtrasolar planet, Template:FA-iconDefinition of planet, Template:FA-iconNebular hypothesis
2. Template:FA-iconDefinition of planet –Template:FA-iconPlanet, Template:FA-icon Dwarf planet, Small solar system body, IAU definition of planet, Cleared the neighbourhood, Hydrostatic equilibrium, Double planet, Geocentric model, Heliocentrism, Brown dwarf

Possible additions

See also: Template:Solar System table

The ultimate scope of this topic and subtopics (not included above)

This topic could go on forever, so it would help to delineate what will and will not eventually be included. Here's a list of possible candidates; please add or take away anything you feel is necessary:

1. Planetary ring
2. there are 12 other spherical moons, and one moon (Proteus) that is large enough to be spherical but isn't.
3. there are at least 40 other objects in the outer Solar System that are large enough to be spherical, but are not likely to be classified as dwarf planets because they can't be seen in enough detail to determine their sphericity 100 percent
4. other significant minor planet populations
5. various molecular elements to the Solar System, including solar wind, interplanetary medium, heliosphere, interplanetary dust cloud, cosmic dust, meteoroids.
6. otehr "Moons of" articles: Moons of Pluto, etc

Discussions

I think for the sake of cleanness we should use this section as the talkpage.

Sorry for the major cleanup, but I think from this setup it will be easier to maintain an idea of where editors should/could focus their energies. Nergaal (talk) 00:04, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

I think you guys need to get Centaur (asteroid) and Trojan asteroid included

Articles like those kinda look like gaps. Similarly, now that the topic has been restructured, I think you need to work on the lists, or at least set up an article that would form the main article of any "lists" topic, so you can defer any requirement to include a whole bunch of lists to there. Again, covering potential gaps - rst20xx (talk) 23:25, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm, maybe you could put Asteroid in the main topic, then make it the main article of a subtopic containing List of notable asteroids along with all the asteroid belts (and those already in the main topic would come out). How's that sound? - rst20xx (talk) 17:26, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

I though I already did this in the #Subtopics/3. Anyways, trojans might or not go into the Jupiter subtopic too. Nergaal (talk) 00:25, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Oh yes, so you did, sorry! I completely missed that! Well anyway, I think this is the last set of articles currently in the main topic which could potentially be "broken out" in the future. I'd see it done sooner, rather than later - rst20xx (talk) 01:32, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

subtopics

I would just like to let you know that a topic on the earth is not likely in the next three years, because of the sheer number of divergent high order subtopics. Zginder 2008-09-20T04:33Z (UTC)

why? what main subtopics are missing from the present list? Nergaal (talk) 05:17, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Let us look at the sub artilces of Earth: Earth science, Earth's orbit, Earth's rotation, and Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth. I could argue for more but I think that is enough. Zginder 2008-09-20T05:34Z (UTC)

Just because they contain the word, it doesn't mean they should be in the topic. 1st is covered within the geology article, rotation within the clime, risks-not essential; same for the orbit. imho Nergaal (talk) 06:03, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Besides Earth, what (necessary) articles do you guys think are still missing from the first 10 topics? Nergaal (talk) 05:28, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't think any moons should be in the Jupiter topic. I think these should be relegated to a "Moons of Jupiter" subtopic. Or, better yet, the "Moons of Jupiter" could contain a subtopic for each group of moons, and then the groups form their own subtopics too - rst20xx (talk) 18:10, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

That's pushing things WAY too far. The four Galileans are essentially the only moons of Jupiter. Everything else is just rocks. Your proposal places them on equal footing with the other moons, which is misleading, not to mention the fact that it would require bringing all 63 articles up to GA status, which would be, to put it bluntly, impossible. Serendi^podous 08:45, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Well there's nothing saying you have to build the "Moons" subtopic any time soon. You could just build the main Jupiter topic to include the "Moons" article, and leave the existing "Galilean moons" topic as it is, and then don't connect the two for many moons (pardon the pun :P). There's no hurry to do this - rst20xx (talk) 18:20, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I still think that the Galilean moons belong in any Jupiter topic, but we'll let the FTC decide. Serendi^podous 18:22, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, if you can argue with citations that they're that much more notable then you may well be able to do this. But ultimately, I think the layout I proposed would be the best final resting place for all Jupiter moons articles - rst20xx (talk) 18:28, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Jupiter's 4 Galilean (spherical) planet-like moons should be included. Jupiter and Saturn are both like mini solar systems. -- Kheider (talk) 15:12, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, though it could form part of a Pluto subtopic (and so the insanity spreads...) Serendi^podous 08:45, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Charon is currently classified only as a moon. IF little Charon is ever treated like a dwarf planet I would hope the active, more planet like Galilean moons would be treated on the same level. -- Kheider (talk) 15:12, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I did not imply that Charon is a dwarf planet, but a moon of a dwarf planet with size comparable to some candidates to this status deserves to be in the topic. Ruslik (talk) 15:43, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Please help me understand a thing: why are moons of $PLANET not considered in the topic $PLANET? To me it is obvious that the moons of a given planet should be part of the topic of the planet, but maybe I am not that much into wikitopics to understand the contrary. --Cyclopia (talk) 15:50, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

No one's ever done what we're doing before, so you needn't worry about lacking prior knowledge. The idea proposed by rs20xx was that the moons should instead be included in their own "Moons of Jupiter" sub-sub-topic. However, the four Galileans are such an integral part of the Jovian system I can't think why they should be excluded from the main article, especially considering that Jupiter's 59 other moons are basically flying rocks. Serendi^podous 15:56, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

As I said above, there's no rush to build the "Moons" subtopic, you could just put Moons of Jupiter in the Jupiter topic and leave everything else in place - rst20xx (talk) 18:22, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Also I don't think you can add Charon to the dwarf planets topic until its status is clarified - rst20xx (talk) 18:12, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for your answers. I respectfully disagree with rst20xx. In my opinion, moons (all moons of a given planet) should belong to each planet topic. That's because doing that we naturally respect the hierarchy: Solar system=Sun+bodies directly orbiting Sun; planet system=planet+moons orbiting planet. --Cyclopia (talk) 18:08, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Also, I ask if a single article can belong to more than one topic: in this case, I'd vote for major satellites (Moon, Galileian moons, Titan, Triton, Charon) to belong also to the Solar System topic. --Cyclopia (talk) 18:08, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

An article can belong to more than one topic if it does not cause the topics to "overly overlap" - that's vague, but intentionally so, as it is up to the voters to decide what is excessive overlap. Now, in this particular case though, well (most of) the articles you suggest were actually removed from the solar system topic recently because people felt it did constitute excessive overlap, so there you go, that's a no-starter - rst20xx (talk) 13:59, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

I accept it, but I don't really understand it. What is overlap? To me it's not only vague, it is meaningless. It is a word without definition, in this context. I have no particolar interest in this "featured topic" stuff (unless it is a way to make articles better, it looks much like navel gazing), but how can major solar system bodies be outside the "solar system topic", conceptually, baffles me. --Cyclopia (talk) 23:19, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Ultimately they will not be outside though, as they will be included in subtopics - rst20xx (talk) 15:08, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at the archive #2 in the top-right part of this page, and you will find the relevant discussion there. Nergaal (talk) 19:50, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I understand your viewpoint, but I must admit I disagree with the consensus there reached, so I quit the discussion *smile*. However, you can always call me in for help to make articles GA (and to let me know what you think of the list discussed above, and if someone wants to help me put data in it). --Cyclopia (talk) 13:22, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

At this point people seem to be focusing on Haumea and the Atmosphere of Jupiter articles. But you are welcome to contribute in whichever other article listed on this age that you feel most interested. Nergaal (talk) 16:30, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

additions

• Addition of List of Solar System objects — alternatively by mass?; see Template:Solar System table Nergaal (talk) 23:33, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

I am also prototyping a sortable table of solar system objects that could be worthwile to complete and include in the topic. What do you think? --Cyclopia (talk) 09:40, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I think

List of Solar System objects

List of Solar System objects by mass

List of Solar System objects by radius

List of Solar System objects by surface gravity

could all be merged into one expanded version of your list. Serendi^podous 10:19, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Side issues

I've noticed a number of things as a result of scouting for this topic. One, there is no article on the Exploration of the Earth, which seems like a big gap. Also, the articles solar radiation and sunlight appear to be discussing the same thing. Serendi^podous 18:27, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Exploration of the Earth is not very related to the astronomy (under which this topic I believe it is). I bet there are articles though that pretty much discuss the main points, and those points could be brought together into such an article. Nergaal (talk) 21:27, 25 September 2008 (UTC)