Good names for new planetary-type bodies

[xiphias]

You know, when it was found, they called it "X" for a while, then gave it the unofficial designation "Xena", and I was hoping that that would be the one that stuck.

But in the end, I'm really happy with how we named our farthest-yet-discovered dwarf planet "Eris". Because the discovery of Eris was what started the IAU questioning what "planet" meant, and whether Pluto actually met the definition.

All the strife and discord about the "demotion" of Pluto is entirely the doing of Eris.

Good name, yeah? Who wants to bet that, when we finally get a good image of it, it's going to be gold-ish in color and vaguely apple-shaped?

Comments

[yardlong.livejournal.com]

Yes. Like. :) I don't accept any demotion of Pluto.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, if you think about it -- it's not a demotion. It's a subclassification.

We're now calling Pluto a "dwarf planet". That means it's a planet. Warwick Davis and Peter Dinkledge are both dwarf actors, and Dany DeVito is only one inch off of it, and nobody would say they're not actors.

If Earth is a "rocky planet", and Uranus is a "gas giant planet", and Pluto is a "dwarf planet", then they're all planets, aren't they?

The one thing that I do insist is that, if you count Pluto as a planet, you also count Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris as planets. If you want to say that the planets of the solar system that have been discovered so far are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris, I'm fine with that.

Dwarf Planets

[yardlong.livejournal.com]

I have to agree, and...