Sedna? Xena? 10th planet? WTF?
 

A while back I heard that astronomers discovered a planet beyond Pluto, which they were calling Sedna. In the last two days I've seen multiple stories about a new object (possibly a planet) that may or may not be called Xena. All of them refer to this new discovery as a possible tenth planet. Did they forget about Sedna? Is its orbit inside of Sedna's so that Sedna becomes the 11th planet? Oddly they don't mention Sedna at all, just the new possible 10th planet. I'd post links, but you all know how to use Google better than I know how to post links. Incidently, in my job (designing telescopes) I usually refer to astronomers as astrologers because I know it annoys them. But I digress.

The other nine planets are named after Greek (or Roman) mythological figures. Sedna is from Inuit indian mythology, and Xena is from a crappy syndication only T.V. show with sapphic subtext.

The point of this thread:
Shouldn't a standard be established and then followed (regardless of pop culture trends) as far as planet naming goes? Instead of Sedna and/or Xena, wouldn't Hercules, or Periclese (sp?) or Diomedes or something more Greek-ish be a better choice for the next planet's name? Or do you think the discoverer should be allowed to name it whatever the hell they want (like with comets)?

Feel free to take this discussion off on tangents where no discussion has gone before.

Well, speaking of tangents where no discussion has gone before, they had a planet called Rigel Something or other in Star Trek, right?

They may be running low on names from greek mythology, they've named a lot of stuff out there so i wouldn't doubt it. But yea i was wondering the same thing. I was expecting them to come out and say that this planet is actually sedna, and they're just now getting around to making it official.. i guess that isn't the case. The thing about Sedna is that i heard it was SMALLER than pluto (slighty, but still smaller) and some people don't even like to consider pluto a planet because its so small. (technically pluto is a dual "planet" because the moon is almost as big as the planet itself.)

Anyway, if it were up to me i'd add sedna and this new one and bump the # of planets to 11.

Personally im anxious for them to name it cuz I like to make Starcraft Broodwar maps around new discoveries (yea yea.. im a dork). Here's my Sedna map for broodwar if anyone wants to give it a look :p http://www.fawktastic.com/weeee/Sedna.scx /shameless plug


Edit: Now that i think about it.. hmm.. Planet Xena.. Planet X.. think they're trying to hint at something? Weren't people worried that planet X was supposed to "return" in 2004 and bring doom to us all? I guess it's a little late :p

http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/Sedna.jpg
http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmak...0Sedna%20i.jpg

Actually now that i do a little searching there was yet ANOTHER "planet" that was discovered in 2002 that goes by the name of Quaoar. The thing about this one is that it is even smaller than Sedna, so smartass scientists refuse to acknowledge it as a planet.

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/sedna/sedna-comp.jpg

Here's the orbit of Quaoar.. looks pretty similar to that of pluto.

http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~chad/quaoar/quaoarorbit.gif

Pluto is "too small to be a planet" by many nowadays, but is considered a planet out of a sense of history. Any planetary system with less mass than Pluto+Charion should, in my opinion, be out of the running for the title of "planet".

The new planet, however, masses more than Pluto does from what I've heard.

Current debate centers on whether to classify these new objects as Planets....or Kupier belt objects. The hold up seems to be Pluto, as it would actually fall into the Kupier catagory....rather than planet. Personally , I believe eventually Pluto will be re-classified into the new category, especially as more and more Large (bigger than Pluto) spherical bodies are discovered in outer orbits.

A quick Read:

10th Planet Discovered Past Pluto

Ten billion miles from the sun, you can hear a school textbook editor screaming.

About a month before students return to class, astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced yesterday the discovery of a 10th planet, which means Pluto, the icy, forgotten stepchild of the solar system, has a big baby brother.

The new planet is 1 1/2 the size of its closest neighbor and is the first planet discovered since 1930, but doesn't have a name yet.

The planet's Discoverer, Mike Brown, told the Herald last night he submitted a name - which he would not disclose - to the International Astronomical Union, which is deliberating it.

Until then, the planet is called 2003UB313.

He said there is little chance of a corporate bidding war heating up to call the new heavenly body the TDBankNorth Planet or Planet Starbucks.

"I don't think the union would approve that," he said, but asked, "How much are you offering?"

The new planet was first spotted in October 2003 in an area of the solar system known as the Kuiper Belt. But it was so far away it wasn't recognized as a planet until January. Since then, scientsts have studied 2003UB313's size and motions.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the planet's discovery will re-ignite debate over how astronomers define a planet.

"Understand that `planet' is an arbitrary distinction that human beings make," he said. "When does something stop being a planet and start being just a rock?"

He said the Kuiper Belt is an unexplored region that could yield more discoveries.

"Maybe there's a whole number of objects this size in the Kuiper Belt," he said. "We might get a whole lot of planets. That would really mess up the grade-school kids."

Source: Boston Herald

From Wikipedia site

The object currently has the provisional designation 2003 UB313, given according to the astronomical naming conventions for minor planets of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Because of the object's importance, it is likely that it will receive an official name soon, which its discoverers have the right to choose, subject to the approval of the IAU. The discovery web page URL uses the name "Planet Lila" , and the team have also been informally referring to the planet by the codename "Xena", after the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, but neither is the name put forward to the IAU. According to the IAU rules, all Kuiper belt objects must be named after deities of creation or the underworld.

A 10th Planet has to be called Rupert!

Looks like Tec beat me to it; the info I've read on this recently said the object was larger than Pluto, and had some sort of funky orbit unlike other planets. Also, the names for the planets are Roman gods/goddesses, not Greek :) And should this turn out to be a planet after all, I personally would want another Roman name. However, I doubt my opinion matters much.