Scientists get it wrong again

[gluadys]

Scientists thought planets were stars? Wrong again scientists! Another nail in evolution's coffin!

No, they did not think planets (as you understand the term) were stars. The definition of "planet" was "a star that moves from one constellation to another". Which is exactly what anyone who studied the sky before there were any telescopes would see when they looked at Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn in the night sky.

It was only when Galileo, using a crude telescope, discovered the phases of Venus, that it became known that Venus does not shine of its own light and is therefore not a star.

Soon this was discovered to be true of all planets. It still took another two hundred years before anyone called the Earth a planet. It takes time to process new knowledge.

And just how does this affect the theory of evolution which has nothing to say about planets or stars?

 

[Smidlee]

Yeah, and if people really want to talk about changing labels, why not consider that when the word "planet" was first coined it did not mean "a sizeable body of matter orbiting a star"; it meant "a star that wanders from one constellation to another". That is why Venus, Mars, etc. were thought to be stars and Earth was not classified as a planet. Something to remember whenever reading literature more than 500 years old.

Don't forget Hollywood actors are also seen as stars.

 

[Willtor]

No, they did not think planets (as you understand the term) were stars. The definition of "planet" was "a star that moves from one constellation to another". Which is exactly what anyone who studied the sky before there were any telescopes would see when they looked at Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn in the night sky.

It was only when Galileo, using a crude telescope, discovered the phases of Venus, that it became known that Venus does not shine of its own light and is therefore not a star.

Soon this was discovered to be true of all planets. It still took another two hundred years before anyone called the Earth a planet. It takes time to process new knowledge.

And just how does this affect the theory of evolution which has nothing to say about planets or stars?

He knows. He's joshing you.