[meteorite-list] WHAT IS A PLANET?

From: Martin Altmann <Altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jul 31 08:25:38 2005
Message-ID: <000501c595cc$3f4e72e0$04509a54_at_9y6y40j>

Hi Sterling&list,

The naming issue seems to me almost the more interesting problem than the
definition, from when on a lump of rock should be called "planet" (greek:
wandering star). Does size matter? Perhaps. (at the moment a range from tiny
Mercury and Pluto up to giant objects around other stars). Inclination? No.
Just bad luck, if the chunk once was kicked off from the plane. Formation
and Society is the point. Has it a family of similar members, built in the
same region and of similar physical properties? Is there a belt?
To decide, how to call it, is more a question of history, guess Doug will
write us a nice homework about. At least it is easier to ask if Pluto should
be called a planet, than to discuss each time, after a new large KBO will
have been
detected, whether thius then should be a planet or not.

The naming. Names can be changed. In a schoolbook, I have here, I find
orbiting the sun beyond Saturn the planets "Herschel" and "Leverier".....

The dictionary of minor planets' name is to expensive for me. Maybe somone
else could outline a little bit the development of trends in naming:
classical mythology, groups of names from epics, names of towns, wives,
pets, dead persons with scientific merits, living persons with scientific
merits (the asteroid "Ssssteve", I heard, was found to be only a tiny
satellite orbiting "Rob Haag"), dead persons with no scientific merits,
first
brand names...
Cool would be a diagram, where the distribution of brightness of the minor
planets in opposition would be plotted against those thematic name groups.

If it's true, that Pluto was baptized also to give the initials of Percival
Lowell and as it's not en vogue anymore to continue with classical greek and
latin names, we have to find a name starting with "Mb.." to honour the
discoverer. Guess we have to study some African myths...would be perfect
super-PC, like Quaoar from Tongva, Sedna from the Inuit....

Hey, would have been a great fun and test, how far the PC really reaches, to
give the new object a christian name, hehe. May you imagine what an immense
outcry this would cause in the media?
But would be quite suitable, think to the old woodcuts and medieval drawings
with the
heliocentric system, where adjacent to the sphere of fixed stars are
following the spheres of the angels according their hierarchy.
As we we don't know, how many more KBO will be found more far away, we
should choose a name from the lowest rank,
thus I choose an archangel
and to honour the discoverer, I propose the name:

Michael

Hummm, Sedna - Goddess of sea, Eskimo, sounds cold - Pluto, death...perhaps
it's better to plunder the mythologies for personnel with cold, dark & icy
attributes, to reflect the physical nature of the KBOs?

In Norse mythology we have the three giants of rime.

Hymir
Daddy of the god of war Tyr. Lives at the edge of heaven.
He has a huge cauldron, wherein he brews all the beer for the gods. Skol!
Once he was on a fishing trip with the boss, Thor. Who was so stupid to
catch the Midgard Snake, which entwines around the whole world.
But Hymir cut the fishing line.

Thjazi
Had some family struggles, always hungry.
Was slain by Odin, who pulled of Thjazi's eyes, throw them to heaven, where
they formed a pair of stars.
Thjazi I felled, | the giant fierce,
And I hurled the eyes | of Alvaldi's son
To the heavens hot above;
Of my deeds the mightiest | marks are these,
That all men since can see.
What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"
(Who the heck is Harbath?)

Gymir
Dad of beauty queen Gerda. She symbolises also the seasons, in
wintertime......

Ooooooops, I forgot!
Those names are not acceptable. Poor Snorri, poor Icelanders - the Sagas and
the Edda still have a Wagner&Nazi smell
and are allowed only as poor copies in miserable fantasy literature &
computer role-playing games.
Bad luck.

So other suggestions?
Buckleboo!
Martin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly_at_bhil.com>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:16 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] WHAT IS A PLANET?


> Hi,
>
>
> These recent discoveries of new "planets" is going to heat up the
> on-going quarrel about what is and isn't a planet, with its increasingly
> long definitions and conditions statements designed to trim reality in
> the mold of the arguer's mind.
.........
Received on Sun 31 Jul 2005 08:34:50 AM PDT