quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: I got the joke, it just seems an odd choice for a name- it is larger than Pluto after all: hardly a golden apple.
It's size is precisely why it is a golden apple. Pluto is only considered a planet today because astronomers were really ignorant about the outer solar system when it was discovered. We know now there are countless objects out there, similar in composition to Pluto and about the same size. 2003 UP313 is simply the first one found that is bigger than Pluto. There could be many others. This discovery should actually be considered more proof that we only have eight planets, not ten or more.
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"Roman mythology."
Well, since the Romans unashamedly stole it all from the Greeks anyway, maybe the planets should be renamed to their corresponding Greek mythology figures, which would have the added benefit that my choice (Kerberos, being the guardian of both the underworld and the shittiest neighborhood in the system) would fit right in with Hermes, Aphrodite, Gaia, Ares, Zeus, Cronos, Ouranos, Poseidon, and Hades. B)
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My joke was more along the lines of the discord that is sure to erupt about whether to classify Pluto and "Xena" as planets or as planetoids. And Discordia is the Roman goddess of strife, so it'd be in keeping with the "use Roman gods and goddesses for the Sol Sytem planets except for Earth" theme that's currently going on.
One of my (Trekkie) friends thinks we ought to use Vulcan, which was once proposed for an imaginery planet between the sun and Mercury in the mid- to late- 1800s. I'm not so sure using the Roman god of volcanoes for a distant, icy chunk of rock is a good use of the name.
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Yeah, I'm just not a fan of the lousy Romans glomming Greek mythology for their own use. Charon is Greek though, so there is an odd amount of crossover.
I still like Nix for something the sun barely reaches.
Anything but a TV show.
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Charon is Greek though, so there is an odd amount of crossover.
If I remember correctly, the names of almost all the major natural satellites in the solar system are named for figures in Greek mythology. Io, Thebe, Phobos, Deimos, Charon, Ganymede, Amalthea, etc. I'm not sure if they have counterparts in Roman mythology, though.
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I think the Romans just ripped off the major gods- saves money on all those re-used statues and temples after all, and the rOmans were pragmatic...at first anyhow.
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Deimos and Phobos do (Fuga and Timor), BUT THEY STOLES THEM FROM US.
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I vote for Yuggoth- as long as we're pulling names out of fiction, I say we use Lovecraft and spook everyone out. Particularly the nuts that believe the Necromonicon is a real book that Lovecraft based his stories on...
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How about we go politicaly correct and just name it "Fuck Allah". Boy, that'll go over like a pay toilet in a diarrhea ward.
Sure would spice up the science journals though. Imagine the cover of Discover: the #1 story of the year is Fuck Allah.
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Jason: Latin for "night" is "nox". "Nix" is a word for "snow". Though, in a way, that still works. And far be it from me to object to a planet called "Nix".
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Hmmm...I'm at work (and away from my mythology texts) so I defer to your judgment.
Either sounds cool, though "Nox" sounds like those goofty Stargate aliens..
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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