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So, after Sedna, Quaoar, 2004DW, and 2003EL61 (spotted yesterday), there's now yet another candidate with the highly descriptive designation of 2003UB313 in the running for Planet-X status, and as usual the discussion about what a planet should be has flared up once more, leading me to conclude (and I'm positive no-one else has thought of this) that it might be a good idea to reach a consensus on the term before we catalog the rest of the Pluto-sized crap hiding at the edges of the solar system, because of such crap there evidently is a whole lot. (Astronomers say.)
Also, this is neat.
Registered: Nov 1999
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People have been contesting Pluto AS a planet ever sicne they found it 75 years ago. Unlike the four gas giants and four rocky inner worlds, Pluto, Sedna, Quaoar and these two new worlds are composed mostly of stellar leftovers, mostly ice, are not geologically active, and occupy noncircular orbits. Back when Pluto was discovered, there wasn't any real way to classify planets in the first place except size; now, most scientists are thinking that planets should be classified more on what they're made of rather than size. Some once said that since it was large enough to have a moon, it ought to be a planet; but since then we've discovered irregular-shaped asteroids with "moonlets" of their own too.
Then there's stuff like the moons of the gas giants (Titan, Io, Europa, Tethys...), many of which are larger and more geologically active than Pluto and its bretheren, and in many respects are closer to the rocky inner planets than them. And let'snot forget the asteroids in the belt, some of which are larger than these outer iceballs.
The upshot of this is that the traditional definition of "planet" needs to be looked at. There are going to be dozens or HUNDREDS of bodies the size of Pluto or larger, way out there in the Oort cloud. Are they planets? No more than Pluto is.
I think that Pluto can't really be called a planet like the eight inner ones. But HOW the classification works out will be in the hands of a bunch of rocket scientists that are way smarter than we are.
posted
Well, it should be size-based. Otherwise we may (eventually) find small bodies wth the characteristics of what is deemed a "planet" (they could find an asteroid with peculiar geoligical features for example).
So...I just read that the team announcing the discovery has unoffically dubbed the planet "Xena" after that silly TV show. Once again, my faith in the utter stupidity of mankind is solidified.
Really, if this name sticks, the people responsible should be neutered to prevent any future generations from suffering their stupidity at a genetic level.
[ July 30, 2005, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Original posted by Houston Chronicle: Brown said they had a name they have proposed for the planet, but did not want to disclose it publicly until it had been formally approved by the International Astronomical Union. "We have a name we really like, and we want it to stick," he said.
Informally, the astronomers have been calling it "Xena" after the television series about a Greek warrior princess, which was popular when the astronomers began their systematic sweep of the sky in 2000. "Because we always wanted to name something Xena," Brown said.
The real name of the planet/planetoid/Discovery is pending. I read on another site that I can't find at the moment that it's also unofficially known as Lila, after one of the discoverer's first-born daughter. Personally, I hope they name it Discordia.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I really want to send the entire search team to live on this new incredibly cold world... "because they really wanted to name something Xena".
Discordia would be a intresting name, but I'd prefer "Nix" (Night), "Echo", "Hades" or "Anything except that cunt Xena".
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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About the only pictures there are of it show it as a barely-moving white dot.
You know, a massive write-in campaign prompted NASA to name the first space shuttle Enterprise. Think we can lobby the International Astronomical Union to rename all the planets for the Star Trek actors? Imagine: we could live on a planet named Shatner.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Really, I dont think any TV show shoud be considered for such a permanant name. Stick with greek mythology- that way the planets have a theme of sorts.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Krenim: And Discordia seems oddly appropriate considering how it's throwing into chaos the definition of a "planet".
Thank you, someone got my joke. I've also heard some people on other message boards toss around Proserpina tossed around as another option, which would make the two outer planets the rulers of the underworld.
Registered: Mar 1999
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I got the joke, it just seems an odd choice for a name- it is larger than Pluto after all: hardly a golden apple.
Moons are good for Shakespere nmaes, but planets...?
Naah.
I'm thinking Hades as a name...though it seems wrong for it to be so far from Persephone (though -sort of -close to Charon, I suppose).
Mabye Thetis? If it has a moon, they could name it Achilles. That works for me.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I already suggested Proserpina many years ago, when someone thought they'd found something huge out in the Oort cloud. I guess nothing ever came of that.
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