Our Solar System's Nomenclature Wars

Posted by simoniker on Wednesday August 20, 2003 @07:12PM from the more-futurama-inspired-names-please dept.

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."

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Couldn't help it by Alkonaut · 2003-08-21 02:11 · Score: 1, Redundant

(Professor Farnsworth has just invented the Smelloscope.)

Farnsworth: You'll find that every heavenly body has its own particular scent.
Fry: As long as you don't make me smell 'Uranus'! Ha! Ha!
Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed 'Uranus' in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum.