• Einar@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    What are we going to name it when it is found?

    I trust we really don’t want “Planet Nine” (if we do, we should rename Earth to “Planet 3”), let alone “Planet X”. Any better ideas?

    • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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      5 months ago

      With two exceptions*, the names are from Roman mythology. So I’d expect the new planet to get a definitive name from the same template. (Please be Janus. It’s the gate of the solar system!)

      *Uranus is from Greek mythology, with no good Latin equivalent. Terra is trickier; you could argue that it fits the template for Latin and the Romance languages, but most others simply use local words for soil, without a connection to the goddess. That is also called Tellus to add confusion.

    • Daxtron2@startrek.website
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      5 months ago

      It will likely be a Greek or Roman name in keeping with tradition. The IAU generally let’s the person/group that discovers have an influence in the decision but they’re the final say on the name.

  • Olap@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Surely the absence of nine indicates our model of gravity is off. Combined with lack of Dark Matter, is Einstein wrong?