abstract:In antiquity the classical planets were the non-fixed objects visible in the sky, known to various ancient cultures. The classical planets were therefore the Sun and Moon and the five non-earth planets of our solar system closest to the sun (and closest to the Earth); four of which are easily visible without a telescope.
It seems that even ifthe IAU had kept Pluto'sstatus as a planet, theclassicaltheory of nineplanets in the solar systemwould have had to bechanged, but the other way around.
The stories come in order of composition, with dates, and in three sections, each of them flagged by a quietly resonant illustration (a view of the planet from outer space, a heavily restored classical fresco, a painting of a spectral cadaver).