material entity
geographical entity
A material entity that is (1) a bona fide or fiat object part of the crust, any bodies of liquid on or contained within the crust, or planetary boundary layer (if present) of a terrestrial planet (including Earth), dwarf planet, exoplanet, natural satellite, planetesimal, or small Solar System body, and that (2) overlaps the planetary surface (including having a boundary that coincides with part of the planetary surface).
Includes atmosphere, crust, geographical regions (e.g., the geographical region over which the state of Florida has jurisdiction), bodies of water, mountains, etc.
Generally, an individual organism is a distinct object that is not a part of the Earth, although this requires more thought. But the intent is definitely for this class to NOT subsume organism universally. Human beings are contained within, but not part of, the Earth, for example.
Mathias Brochhausen
Matt Diller
Note that despite the word 'planetary' in 'planetary surface', it refers generally to surface of dwarf planets, asteroids, moons, etc.
We note that not all planets have a surface per se (e.g., gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn). So only planets, natural satellites, etc. with a planetary surface (with or without a planetary boundary layer) have geographical entities.
We note that the term 'geography' is also applied to the Earth's moon, Mars, Venus, and possibly even other moons and planets in our own solar system and beyond.
Thus, we are attempting to define things generally enough that they could be reused for the geographical entities/features on the Moon, Mars, other planets, exoplanets, other natural satellites (a.k.a moons), asteroids, etc.
William R. Hogan
geographical entity of astronomical body