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Our Solar System's Nomenclature Wars
RobotRunAmok writes "Plutinos, Centaurs, Cubewanos - the names Detroit has given some of their next gen SUVs? Nope. They are among the many colorful, and, some complain, confusing names which astronomers have given to celestial objects in the last decade. Ever wonder about the system of organization which astronomers use to name new space rocks? Apparently, so have many astronomers, because, according a Yahoo!/Space.com article, it's neither very systematic nor organized. Fear not: some clever star-minded chaps from Oxford and Cambridge have a plan to wring some order from the damp dishrag of astro-nomenclature chaos."
Been there, done that, got a QB10 t-shirt.
Using a numeric system. Let's see... the universe can be 0, stars can be 1, blackholes 2, planets 3, moons 4, asteroids 5, comets 6... That won't be confusing at all.
Ever wonder about the system of organization which astronomers use to name new space rocks?
No.
The origin of the word "cubewano" is perhaps the most extreme example of nomenclative amusement among astronomers.
Boy those astronomers are some crazy guys. I should invite them to my next rave.
Damn, I thought I was good at killing conversation with geek talk. Remind me never to invite an astronomer to a party.
To know that you know what you know, and that you do not know what you do not know, that is true wisdom. --Scooby Doo
with earth it will surely be "MS Asteroid XP" - XPerience the Impact....
".Sig Stealer" was here
Maybe they'll come up with something else as entertaining.
From the grandfather of the Roman Gods to the butt (pun intended) of most astronomy jokes. How the mighty have fallen.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
If only they'd implemented this before Uranus was named...
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And I, for one, welcome our new crazily named space rock overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their near-earth asteroid mines.
It's quite obvious that everything should be called Marclar.
1: Overuse a joke based on South Park
2: Moderated up +5 Funny
3: ?
4: Karma!
Why not just auction the rights to name the crap off to the highest bidders? Just like our sports arenas. Why not have the IBM moon? How about the McDonalds Asteroid belt? Planet Coca Cola? CapitalOne "No Asshole" Uranus?
ST = Space Thingies.
Perhaps differentiated into:
TSTs = Tiny space thingies.
STSs = Small space thingies.
MSTs = Medium space thingies.
BSTs = Big space thingies.
RBSTs = Really big space thingies.
RRBSTs = Really, really big space thingies.
RRBAQESTs = Really, really big, actually quite enormous, space thingies.
Explorer: What's this over here?
Native: Fucking water!
Explorer: Oh I see, "Fucking Water" and this over there?
Native: "More fucking water"
Explorer: Wonderful "Lake More Fucking Water" And this is
Native: Water! Fucking Water!
Explorer: "The mighty Water Fucking Water river". Oh, how about this area over here, what do you call it?
Native: Trees
Explorer: Ahead is the land of Trees, and there?
Native: More trees
Explorer: I see, More Trees, and that there?
Native: Trees, Fucking Trees idiot
Explorer: Oh.. that side of the mountain must not be in a rain shadow. Fucking must be a root word for wet. Tell me.... What do you call all of this?
Native: Canada
Explorer: Oh, this is the great land of Canada
Student: I think he means those houses over there
Explorer: Don't be silly.
Actually, the best way to solve this problem would be to set up an intergalactic version of ICANN, seeing as how they've done so well with handling domain names...
Hey, does that mean we are not going to call those cylindrical pieces coming towards Earth Rama?
...begins with:
MST = Medium Space Thingies (formerly known as tiny, but that wasn't good for marketing),
and then continues with:
BST = Big Space Thingies.
XBST = Extra Big Space Thingies.
KSST = King Size Space Thingies (always written with small crowns replacing the dots over the i:s).
SSKS = SuperSized King Size Space Thingies (ditto, but has to be written in a larger, blinking red text).
Then, of course, there are the Kids' Space Thingies, which are quite small and come with plastic Disney figures.
I have a life. I really do. I've just chosen to ignore it.
And then I could make it fight the dark side.
What the fuck are talking about? You are telling us that we need a search engine and both hands to find our uranus?
No, man....
I am sure there are a few IP6 addresses that could be assigned! I heard a rumour there was enough address space to label everything in the Universe. You can even end up with a hierarchical model. It would be very useful for routing those inter-Galaxy emails. Not as daft as it sounds.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased