Slashdot Mirror
Nearest Alien Planet Gets New Name
SchrodingerZ writes "The nearest planet outside our solar system has recently been named Albertus Alauda. Originally named Alpha Centauri Bb, the planet is the closest known planet not orbiting the Sun, being a mere 4.3 light years away. The name comes from Jay Lark, who won the naming contest held by Uwingu starting last month and ending on April 22. Lark remarks that the name comes from the Latin name of his late grandfather, stating, "My grandfather passed away after a lengthy and valiant battle with cancer; his name in Latin means noble or bright and to praise or extol." The competition for naming the planet came from Uwing, a company which used the buying of name proposals and votes to fund grants for future space exploration ventures. Albertus Alauda won the competition with 751 votes, followed by Rakhat with 684 votes, and Caleo, with 622 votes."
when they pry the planet Pluto from my cold, dead hands.
Eris is 27% more massive than Pluto. You can have Pluto as a Planet if you're willing to agree humans are all blind as bats because they didn't see THE OTHER PLANET that was hovering about your star, even after all those centuries looking, you only just spotted it 8 years ago...
Or, you can just de-list Pluto and save some of your pathetic face, human. Hell, you wouldn't even raise an eyebrow if there were thousands of colony ships just sitting right in your back yard, gravitationally maneuvering a small moon into just the right orbit to create a nice warm magma-world where you sit now... You study such small patches of the sky at great distances, and ignore the much nearer and real threat of assured extinction. "It's not a question of 'if', It's only a matter of time" I hear your broadcasts say about repeating the events that destroyed the previous dominant life on your planet. Oh, but what if the next time is worse? It could be MUCH worse for you, indeed. How many dwarf planets are left unseen, unnamed, right in your own solar system? Wouldn't you like to know?! No, obviously not.
You had your chance: You made it to the closest easiest target, but then parked your waste-holes for over 40 stellar orbits. Had you shown promise, been prodigiously diligent or at least sensible enough to expend the small cultural effort to develop the tech to colonize beyond your planet's safe magnetosphere then maybe things would have worked out differently for you... The Universe has neither love nor sympathy for lazy complacent races such as yours.
"Cold, dead hands" -- Ha! They might as well be for all the good you've done with them.