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New Tenth Planet Has a Moon

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the everybody's-doin'-it dept.

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?"

32 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Smaller object orbiting a larger... by Caine · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

    1. Re:Smaller object orbiting a larger... by Pharmboy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or a captured asteroid.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    2. Re:Smaller object orbiting a larger... by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Moon" means the same as "satellite," which both mean "object that orbits a planet." That waning crescent in the sky is a natural satellite. Hubble is an artificial moon.

      Something that doesn't orbit a planet is neither a moon nor a satellite. If it orbits the sun and is of reasonable size, you can call it a "planet," or maybe "planetoid."

      We don't call Voyager or Pioneer "satellites" for a reason.

  2. so... by Rhinobird · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
    1. Re:so... by Eudial · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's no moon?

      what is it? Some kind of giant space station?


      Cheese.
      --
      GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
  3. heres a thought... by Phil246 · · Score: 5, Funny

    so what do you call a moon with no planet?
    a space station?

  4. A Satellite? by kalidasa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:A Satellite? by kalidasa · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm not so sure. "Xena" is pretty far out, so its gravitational effect is probably negligible. And look at all the KBOs they've found at least a quarter the size of Pluto. (On your other posting, to ignore the joke and pretend it's serious - I don't know enough about extrasolar systems to know if they've found that the "ecliptic" arrangement is the norm, but I imagine it is - so extrasolar planets outside their local ecliptic are interesting, too.)

  5. What do you call a moon with no planet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    An endless barrage of tired Death Star jokes?

    1. Re:What do you call a moon with no planet? by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 5, Funny

      I find your lack of faith disturbing.

      --
      "I only speak the truth"
      Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  6. Name calling by Hydrogenoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    so what do you call a moon with no planet?

    Easy, you call it Gabrielle.

  7. Xena? Gabrielle? by JabberWokky · · Score: 5, Funny
    Callisto
    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...
    ... the ratings will soar!

    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
  8. hhhmmm,,, by Mad_Rain · · Score: 5, Funny

    so what do you call a moon with no planet?

    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. :) Nerds!

    --
    "What do you think?" "I think 'What, do you think?!'"
  9. What is a planet? by Starker_Kull · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:What is a planet? by hattig · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't try to bring sense into this debate.

      Because someone will reply "if it is not part of an orbiting belt of material" to try and cut out Ceres and this new planet, to keep the status quo.

      Never mind the fact that the asteroid belt is in fact very sparsely populated, and merely a bunch of bodies in space in a reasonably common orbit, possibly created from the destruction of a single larger body or two.

      I'm happy with our solar system having 5 rocky planets, 4 gas planets and 2+ remote ice planets.

    2. Re:What is a planet? by Gabrill · · Score: 3, Informative
      Oh quit being complicated. Pluto and Charon are big enough to be called planets. A binary pair in this case, because they co-orbit a central point. They're no more different from Earth than the gas giants are. We're actually closer in scale to Pluto and Xena than we are to the gas giants.

      Since we already classify the rocky planets and the gas giants together, there is absolutely no reason not to combine the third group of large (read gravitationally spherical) objects. For those of you who insist on a degree of perfectness, show it to a kid. If he says it's a round ball, then quit griping about it.

      Incedentally, moons should be gravitationally spherical, too. I hate the way scientist are still discovering rocks the size of my house and calling them moons of Jupiter or Saturn. Yes, this would reclassify Phobos and Diemos to mere satellites. Alternatively, a moon could be an object that doesn't look like a star from the surface of the host planet. Kinda hard to nail that down for the gas giants, though.

      Just out of curiousity, someone up the thread mentioned moons with moons of their own. Can you post a reference on that?

      --
      Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
    3. Re:What is a planet? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We first noticed planets were different from stars because we could resolve them into DISCS, not merely points of light

      Umm, no we didn't. We first noticed planets were different from stars because planets don't move in the same orbit as stars. They move in one direction, then they zig zag back in the other direction. The word planet comes from the Greek word plants, which means "wanderer". The actual phases of the planets weren't discovered until much much much later.

  10. Fanfic by sielwolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    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?
    1. Re:Fanfic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't stop! I was just getting into it ...

  11. No accepted definition of "moon" by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 3, Informative
    Different astronomers have different concepts of what constitutes a moon. For instance, many respectable astronomers consider asteroids can have moons.

    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.

  12. Not a planet Yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Not a planet Yet by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Mike Brown, who discovered it"

      Brownie is doing a heck of a job!

  13. Auctioning off the names by putko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  14. Rupert by Alioth · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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
  15. Why Xena and Gabrielle? by Whispers_in_the_dark · · Score: 3, Funny

    Am I to assume from the naming that the new planets having nothing more going for them than huge ... tracts of land?

  16. So what do you call a moon with no planet? by ewe2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lonely?

    --
    insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
  17. Dominatrix Moon - Rated PG by Mulletproof · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  18. From the horse's mouth... by call+-151 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  19. Re:Meaning of "Satellite" by moonbender · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Etymology is amusing, but it's really fairly irrelevant when it comes to the actual, current meaning.

    --
    Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  20. ...wow by Pu'be · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The discovery team also have nicknamed the planet 'Xena' and the moon 'Gabrielle'." Wow....any bets on the discovery team being nothing but virgins?

  21. Its still called a moon. by stfvon007 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
  22. What happened to Sedna or EL61? by Billy+Ray+Cyrus · · Score: 3, Informative

    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/