Classifying Charon as a planet poses a knotty problem. It's true that it doesn't exactly orbit Pluto, that they are locked together and in effect orbit each other. But isn't that the case for all planet-moon systems? Each affects the orbit of the other. If we make an exception for Charon, don't we have to he same for the additional two moons of Pluto, Nix and Hydra, that were discovered recently? I am sure Pluto's orbit (and Charon's, for that matter) are affected by these bodies also, however slightly. I agree that Pluto should retain planetary status because it's a traditional planet, and that because of that Xena should have the same status. But I really have doubts about Ceres and Charon. From what I remember about the history of astronomy, and I may be wrong about this, Ceres was considered a planet when it was discovered. But over the rules it lost status -- there must have been a reason. -- Joe