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New Tenth Planet Has a Moon
starexplorer writes "SPACE.com is reporting that the recently discovered 10th planet of our solar system has a neighbor - a moon. The discovery team also have nicknamed the planet 'Xena' and the moon 'Gabrielle'. Many scientists are objecting to whether the new planet really is a new planet - so what do you call a moon with no planet?"
Do people never think about why the flimsy pieces of metal flying about above us are called what they are? The answer to your question is: A satellite.
That's no moon?
what is it? Some kind of giant space station?
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
so what do you call a moon with no planet?
a space station?
A body that orbits another body is a satellite in all cases. It is a moon if the body it orbits is a planet. Either "Xena" is a planet, or Pluto isn't (in which case Charon isn't a moon, either). The really interesting question for me is whether there are a lot more planet-sized bodies so far outside the ecliptic.
An endless barrage of tired Death Star jokes?
so what do you call a moon with no planet?
Easy, you call it Gabrielle.
Words: (C) 1997 by Tom Smith
Music: "Calypso" by John Denver
To surf on the net, or to surf TV channels,
Over and over, there's been one request:
It's Xena we want, the Warrior Princess,
At least Gabrielle, and we want them undressed.
Now, I have to admit, they're not unattractive,
But if we're talking fantasies, I want the best.
Aye, Callisto, I think that I love you,
You psycho bitch leather queen killer bombshell.
Hai, Callisto, I sing to your spirit,
I'm doing it now, 'cause you're going to Hell.
Ai-yi-yi!
Whoh-ooh-ohh...
Ai-yi-yi!
Whoh-ooh-ohh...
I've noticed a trend in the Xena fan-fiction:
Our heroes are lesbians, friendly and more...
Meanwhile, on the show, they're all into bondage,
Shackles, and leather, and sex on the floor.
If these two trends combine, we'll get... Mistress Callisto...
Enslaving our heroes...
Aye, Callisto, put Xena in irons,
I hope you take Gabrielle over your knee,
But, why, Callisto, does Xena obsess you?
You do it to her, but I wish it was me.
Aye, Callisto, I think that I love you,
You psycho bitch leather queen killer bombshell.
Hai, Callisto, I sing to your spirit,
An hour with you would be worth any Hell.
Ai-yi-yi!
I-I-olous -- wait, that's the other show...
Ai-yi-yi!
Whoh-ooh-ohh...
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
so what do you call a moon with no planet?
:) Nerds!
I don't know, but I've got a lot of names to call scientists who want to name a planet and moon after tv characters.
"What do you think?" "I think 'What, do you think?!'"
For some reason, there has been a bit of a dispute about what constitutes a planet vs. an asteroid, comet, other thing orbiting the sun, etc. Some astronomers have said the origin of the object should decide, others give maximum orbital eccentricities and size, etc.
Here is an easy idea for what should be called a planet, that is a somewhat "natural" definition. We first noticed planets were different from stars because we could resolve them into DISCS, not merely points of light - in other words, (aside from being close) planets are ROUND. This is not just an accident, but an indication that they had sufficient gravity to pull themselves into such a shape; thus their surfaces at some point were probably molten, there was a chance for various elements to sort into layers, etc. So why not just say if it's big enough to have pulled itself into a spherodial shape, and it's orbiting the sun, it's a planet?
Why do I have this suspicion that if we google the discovering astronomer and Xena and Gabrielle we'll find some 10 chapter epic slash involving the two amazons meeting Catwoman and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
"Gabrielle, this armor... chafes!"
"Oh look, Xena! A hot spring! Here, let me help you off with that..."
*Shudder*
What is music when you despise all sound?
Probably, we need to have a lot more terminology to describe satellites orbiting other objects. The terms "irregular moon", "regular moon" and "outcast moon" already exist. There are satellites of moons and also binary systems where objects sort of orbit each other. It will probably be another decade before concensus develops on all this.
Unit
As far as I known, Xena (2003 UB313) is not a planet yet.
Mike Brown, who discovered it said "If Pluto is a planet, so is 2003 UB313". (And he said 6 months earlier that Pluto should not be considered a planet !)
But in fact, they are both transneptunian objects. Along with some big ones we discovered earlier like Quaoar and Sedna. So what's the difference with Xena ? It's that Xena is the first transneptunian object larger than Pluto. But note that it's possible to have transneptunian objects the size of Mars. Size don't matter as they are still transneptunian objects, part of the Kuiper Belt.
But you say "Xena has a moon". So what ? Even asteroids can have moons. No big deal.
So the true question is "Is Pluto still a planet ?".
A lot can be said, but I'd say Xena and other transneptunian objects aren't planets while Pluto is.
Why Pluto ? Only because from an historical and cultural point of view, it's a planet.
Gee, can these name choosers at least give a minimum of coolness? Huge continent-sized lumps of rock in space should at least have some weighty, dignified name. I mean, think of what we would be doing in the future. Will people ever be able say 'Invaders from planet Buffy' with a straight face?
And what if we find life? I'd assume the inhabitants of a planet named after characters in a TV show can be quite offended. I propose we go back to good old fashioned Gods and Goddesses.
I think the scientists could have auctioned off the names of the new objects to pay for further space exploration, better telescopes, etc.
Here's an example: a species named after goldenpalace.com (an online casino):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7493711/
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Come on, don't any of these guys read Douglas Adams books? At least one of these objects has to be named Rupert!
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Am I to assume from the naming that the new planets having nothing more going for them than huge ... tracts of land?
Lonely?
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
so what do you call a moon with no planet?
Endor.
Mark: Hey, see that moon? No that one there.
Dave and Bruce: Ahh.
Mark: I think that moon is a bit of a spy. Yes I do. There was a moon like that on the summer of my sixteenth year. Some say I was sixteen but [sigh] I don't know. And there was a girl, too; her name was Marie. At night together we would walk down by the sea and oh my god if you could see the body on this woman. The way at night her long legs would stick into the moist night sand like gods own barge poles, you know. And I longed to tell her the feeling I had in my heart for her but the words would not come, they would not come through my spotty adolescent face, they would not come through my angry hair or my sweaty feet or any other part on this body that I know call a man. So the words je t'aime were never passed between us but the moon, yes, that moon spied on us.
[He takes a drink of wine then passes the bottle to Bruce]
Bruce: The moon is bright over Lebanon tonight! The Lebanese moon looks down shim! sham! shikam!!! Cattle Explodes! Cow shrapnel drips off a tree cascades into a mothers tear. Poor little boy who goes into battle and comes back dead or worse comes back a man. Why don't you warn them moon? Why don't you say duck or scram? But the moon will not. The moon just sits there grinning like a corpse at a Dean Martin roast. What are you laughing at moon? Why don't you share it with the whole class moon? The moon laughs knowingly, the moon laughs, the moon, the.
[He takes a drink of wine and passes the bottle to Dave]
[Dave looks nervous]
Dave: Gee , I wonder who owns that moon?
[Dave sighs disappointedly]
Mark and Bruce: Yes...yes...yes...yes.
Honestly, can we get a name that doesn't reek of pop culture? But then again, why not I guess. It's either name it after a long string of numbers, some obscure historical diety or a show about lesbian dominatrix warrior women in leather. Hmmm, I guess that's not such a tough choice after all. That, and I just wanted to use "lesbian dominatrix warrior women" in a sentance.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
And a lot of us really didn't like "Mostly Harmless". Even Adams admits it was a bleak book due to some problems in his life, and wanted to write a more upbeat sixth book, but he didn't get the chance.
I find your ideas intriguing, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
OK, I am going to sue whomever is responsible for this discovery. They are messing with my horoscope and now my fate will be influenced by Xena.
I better hurry too before some Russian lady beats me to it.
A contributor to Wikipedia, by the way, has amusingly recognised this and posted the following definition (and no, it wasn't me, my Latin is not nearly good enough)
Satelles dicitur corpus caeleste naturale quod circum planetam vel asteroidam revolvitur et ipsum non lucet
(S?)he defines it as a natural body which revolves around a planet or an asteroid. I disagree with the "natural", but at least I'm not alone in the world on this!
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Michael Brown, one of the scientists on the team that discovered the planet and now its moon, has an excellent website about 2003UB313 and has been keeping it current. I've been checking it out to see if there are any interesting developments about the team that apparently claimed the discovery of 2003UB313 without mentioning the fact that they at least visited the logs of the telescope Brown's team was using, if not outright deducing its existence from those logs. It's great to see this kind of rapid dissemination from the principals. By the way, he also has an extensive website about his newborn daughter's sleep patterns which is pretty impressive too...
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
I think Herman Melville gets to claim priority even over Battlestar Galactica, let alone the burnt coffee chain. He used Starbuck as a character in a book (Moby Dick) over 150 years ago.
-- Alastair
Why don't we just call them both "the Lesbos system"? Sounds more fitting ;-)
IMHO, since we are having such a debate as what is a planet and what is not, then the notion of a planet has outlived its usefulness. Out of all of the large rocks orbiting the sun, why select some to be called planets and others not? Is there a need to draw such a distinction? Labelling some objects as planets and others as not is as ridiculous as deciding upon "x" meters of string to be known as a standard long or short piece.
If you say we need "planets" so that objects may be easily classified, then I sat that the application of the data determines the measurement for classification. And there are countless measures such as size, mass, distance from the sun, eccentricity, angle from the ecliptic, or any combination of these and more.
The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.
"The discovery team also have nicknamed the planet 'Xena' and the moon 'Gabrielle'." Wow....any bets on the discovery team being nothing but virgins?
Ida And Dactyl
Ida Is an Asteroid. Dactyl is another asteroid which is a moon of Ida. I dont see anyone calling Ida a planet just because it has a moon.
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
The problem here is not one of underclassification, its one of overclassification. We are classifying things to a level beyond which our theories are solid enough to prove. Thus, as we discover and understand more, we face the problem of having wrongly taught generations of people who now protect what they "know" because, after all, they never teach anything wrong in school.
Unless they can come up with a concise definition that doesn't sound like someone is simply trying to justify their historical bias, perhaps we should just solve this by dropping the word "planet". We could just make everything a satellite and perhaps go the one step further of including the largest body it orbits. So, all of the planets become solar satellites and our moon becomes a mere Earth satellite.
I thought they had already found the "10th" planet. Wasn't it called Sedna? And what ever happened to that other object that had a moon they found called EL61? Here is a reference to the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8756128/
I shall call him... *pinky to corner of mouth* Mini-Moon!
Skype is too convoluted... Now I'm reverse-engineering the Kyoto Protocol.
How many tenth planets does our system have? I thought that in 2003, it was already named Sedna. (http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/sedna/)
They can't BOTH be the tenth planet, can they?
so what do you call a moon with no planet?
Moon Unit?
A moon without a planet involved is also known as indecent exposure in most legal jurisdictions.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
"So, you have stars, and they're easy to identify because there's this whole fusion reaction that gives off a lot of radiated energy. Everything that is too small to start the reaction is just in a different category - "not a star"."
White dwarfs and neutron stars don't have fusion...
I rarely criticize things I don't care about.