All hail Eris! All hail Discordia!!
Scientists finally get around to naming UB313
(the dwarf planet formerly know as Xena, not the ska band)
For those who don't know, The most famous tale of the goddess Eris recounts her initiating the Trojan War:
The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite were at a party. She tossed into the party the Apple of Discord, a golden apple inscribed Kallisti – "To the Prettiest One" – provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient, then the mortals got dragged in and the next thing you know the Trojan war is in full swing.
Very apropos name for a planet whose discovery triggered the whole "What is a planet, anyway?" debate.
Well, I may be mad at the International Astronomical Union for defrocking Pluto, but at least they still know how to name a planet.
Sorry, "Dwarf planet."
posted by The Sum of All Monkeys at 11:39 PM
2 Comments:
Eris - excellent, a fine name for a wee planet.
Poor Pluto, now "134340." Ouch. That seems unnecessarily harsh, even vindictive. There's no reason for a reasonably meaty body like 134340 not to have a name, some name; at the very least it's was a planet culturally - just because we drop the dog off at the pound doesn't mean we stop calling it "Scoots."
Which, actually, would be a pretty good name for Pluto.
Which reminds me - what the hell happened to "Sedna?"
It's still around, but it's down to #5 on the Dwarf Planet hit parade.
And the D&D geek in me thinks it's cool we named a planet (dwarf or not) Orcus
Post a Comment
<< Home