# Are all planets virtually round? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-planets-virtually-round/757439 "2016-06-15T17:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-planets-virtually-round/757439/21 "2016-06-16T21:41:30Z")
By one definition, they must be. That is, anything not large enough to be shaped “roughly round” by its own gravity is defined to be not a planet, but something else (like an asteroid). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-planets-virtually-round/757439/22 "2016-06-16T21:42:09Z")
I remember Carl Sagan on **Cosmos** being asked this question by a kid at an elementary school, and he showed a picture of an asteroid, IIRC, and described it as “a lumpy world”! ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-planets-virtually-round/757439/23 "2016-06-16T22:09:21Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > When The Stranger smacked down the Over Mind in the “Fantastic Four” comic, The Stranger divulged that The Stranger came from a planet. . . > > That dwarfed galaxies! > > Whoa! I always thought the Watcher’s head was kind of round. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-planets-virtually-round/757439.md?page=1)