12 Planets?

[Pbartender]

I almost forgot to post this here...

The IUA finally has a draft proposal for the definition of a planet...

The new suggested guidelines would add Ceres, Charon and 2003 UB313 ("Xena") to the list of planets.

The proposed guidelines are essentially:

• Must orbit the sun (or any star).
• Must a "round" object.
• Must be at least 800 km in diameter.
• Must be at least 1/12,000th the mass of Earth.
• Moons may qualify only if the common center of gravity of it and its planet does not lie below the surface of the planet.

 

[Piratecat]

How cool is it that Xena's moon is named Gabrielle?

Hey, you may know this. Why is Charon considered a new planet? Isn't it Pluto's moon?

 

[Ilium]

How cool is it that Xena's moon is named Gabrielle?

Hey, you may know this. Why is Charon considered a new planet? Isn't it Pluto's moon?

Yes, but it's big enough to become round under its own gravity and is almost as big as Pluto, so they're considered a double-planet system.

 

[Cheiromancer]

The barycenter (center of gravity for the system) is between Pluto and Charon. Unlike the barycenter of the Earth and the Moon, which is 1700 km below the surface of the Earth.

There's a good thread about it at circvsmaximvs.com, in the Machinator forum.

Pluto's status to be decided, finally

 

[Thunderfoot]

How cool is it that Xena's moon is named Gabrielle?

Hey, you may know this. Why is Charon considered a new planet? Isn't it Pluto's moon?

But not for long...(It's only a temporary name) thankfully. We have allt hese beautifully named planets that have some sort of historical significance and then the geeks muck it up with Xena and Gabrielle... pitiful.

 

[Pbartender]

But not for long...(It's only a temporary name) thankfully. We have allt hese beautifully named planets that have some sort of historical significance and then the geeks muck it up with Xena and Gabrielle... pitiful.

I'm rather hoping that they start naming all the new Kuiper Belt planets after Lovecraft's Great Old Ones... Zhar and Lloigor would make a much better pair of outer planets than Xena and Gabrielle.

 

[Arkhandus]

Phooey. I spit on the geeks who nicknamed planets/moons Xena and Gabrielle (or would if I could). It's no more appropriate than naming them Moe and Curly, except more people would probably prefer the latter names. Stick with the good ole' classical Greek/Roman planet and moon naming conventions.

I'd much rather see them name the 10th/11th planet (I really don't like the thought of considering Charon a planet itself, but if I bothered to check into the scientific reasoning and stats behind it, I might change my mind and be okay with it) Nox (Roman) or Nyx (Greek) and the moon Erebus, in keeping with Pluto and Charon being named after entities of the underworld from Greek/Roman mythology.

 

[trancejeremy]

Ack. I'm not sure what would be worse than naming planets Xena and Gabrielle. I guess maybe after the cast of "Wings" or after Paris Hilton. But even Gary Coleman would be an improvement.

Still, Charon is actually named after the discover's wife. (IIRC, Sharon, but he had the decency to Roman-Greco it)

 

[Ilium]

I'm gonna buck the trend: I like the names Xena and Gabrielle. I'm sure they won't stick, but I think they're great.

If we really wanted to be fair we'd spread the wealth a little. Why not name one of the planets Osiris, or Tuoni or some other god(dess) of the underworld? Hel would be good, and quite descriptive.

 

[mythusmage]

Xena: Orcus (god of the dead)
Gabriele: Acca Larentia (god of good deceased spirits)