------------------ "It'd be a pity if every pencil on Earth suddenly collapsed in on itself and blew everything up." -Krenim, TNO chat, September 30, 1999
I really have no basis for making this claim, but I'd lean toward the object, if it indeed exists, being a brown dwarf.
At any rate, if it is a planet, what do you think it should be named? Keeping in mind the tradition of naming worlds after Roman gods. Something cold...and very distant.
Or I suppose it could be named Mickey. Or Rupert.
------------------ I do indeed and shall continue Dispatch the shiftless man to points beyond -- Soul Coughing
IMHO, the evidence seems pretty good. Let's hope this new IR telescope can spot something, or barring that, Hubble or a Radio Telescope.
Anyone care to start listing some Roman god names?
------------------ "Well, I guess we're an Ovaltine family." "MORE OVALTINE PLEASE!" -American Radio Ads... *gag*... one more reason I'm glad to be above the 49th.
posted
Cold and distant? They already did that. It's called Pluto. :-)
And, actually, it could be a god or a goddess, considering Venus. And, for that matter, Saturn and Uranus weren't gods, were they? Their Greek counterparts weren't, anyway...
Personally, I would suggest Proserpina, the Roman name for Persephone. Persephone was abducted by Hades (R. Pluto) and held as goddess of the underworld. I think it's appropriate because 1) the planet is closest to Pluto, 2) it's "cold and distant", as Sol put it, like the underworld, and 3) Proserpina was captured, as they suggest this planet was.
------------------ "It'd be a pity if every pencil on Earth suddenly collapsed in on itself and blew everything up." -Krenim, TNO chat, September 30, 1999
posted
I've heard theories of a similar object called "Nemesis" that disturbed the comets in the Oort cloud so they came close to the Sun. I don't know if that would fit in with the current scheme for naming planets, however.
--Baloo
------------------ Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are beautiful. --Unknown www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/
posted
Ok, I was going to list a bunch of Roman deities, but I'll just provide a link or two instead.
At any rate, what about Terminus? He's listed as being the "guardian of the boundaries", which this object certainly appears to be. Plus, it makes for a cool Asimov reference.
posted
This is quite interesting. I don't think you could call this body, if it exists, a planet. It's 32000AU out! That's way into the Oort cloud. It does indeed sound like a brown dwarf, possibly a long-time traveller through space which has become "ensnared" in the sun's gravity and now just mumbles around bumping into protocomets. It'd be interesting to know just how many comets owe their existenxce to its influence.
If it needs a name, may I recall the once recommended name for a "Planet X". Phersephone (Fer-sef-on-ee) She was a princess held captive in the underworld by Pluto.... Ah, I see TSN is way ahead of me.
------------------ "FOOLS! Will I have to kill them ALL?!?!"
[This message has been edited by Montgomery (edited October 08, 1999).]
posted
The red star? ... it didn't have a name.....
------------------ "...when all that is driving my heart forward is you, thoughts of you, hopes for you, and a fading dream with a Mona Lisa smile that whispers "are you thinking of me too?"
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
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