Houston, We Have A Naming Problem!
The amazing story just broke today that “astronomers at NASA and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used direct-imaging techniques to capture pictures of newly discovered planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.” The names of these new found cosmic neighbors?
HF8799b
HF8799c
HF8799d
These are not to be confused with the mother star they circle… HF8799. (And people thought Sarah Palin had naming issues.) It’s not bad enough that beloved Pluto got booted from our solar system’s list of the planetary elite. But now these distant alphanumeric newcomers are pulling rank on our former ninth planet? If they deserve planetary status, then don’t they also deserve good names?
Since they are a mere 130 light years from earth, in the constellation Pegasus, and seven to ten times the mass of Jupiter, why not brand them by size…
PegaMinor
PegaMajor
PegaMonster
Even Dr. Suess was able to come up with Cat A, B and C. So why can’t NASA have a good trio of planetary brands? They could use legacy names such as…
Planets Armstrong, Shepard, and Glenn.
Or celebrity names…
Peter. Paul. Mary.
Moon. Unit. Zappa.
They could get Disney sponsorship money by naming them Planets Heuy, Dewey and Louie. Or by referring to them collectively as The Disney Worlds. Planet Hollywood could sponsor one of them by calling it… well you get the idea.
So help our left minded team in Houston come up with some right brain ideas for these future travel destinations. Post your suggestions for these three planet names, and the winner will receive a handsome Tungsten Branding coffee mug and possible interplanetary immortality. I can’t promise that NASA will launch these new brand names, but it’s worth a try.
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Amen. HR8799b?? Is it a planet or a bill before the US House of Representatives?
Come on, you scientists – you can be a lot more creative than that!
Comment by Rob — November 13, 2008 @ 11:13 pm
I’m happy with the names they’ve been given. When they give them “real” names, they tend to give them lousy ones anyway.
Comment by Mark Green — November 13, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
I think they should name them Sara, Sadi and Susi after my 3 grand daughters. Their mother Shelli could be the 4th.
Comment by Sue — November 13, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
I like the idea of Armstrong, Shepard, and Glenn.
Comment by Maaike Saenz — November 14, 2008 @ 12:08 am
I love how CNN, blogs, and everyone who is reporting on this story about the first direct images of these new planets… don’t include the pictures! Why can’t we see them? How important can they possibly be if CNN and everyone else is just going to give us “artist’s conceptions”?
Comment by David — November 14, 2008 @ 12:56 am
David – Click back to the CNN article and then click the “Photos” tab. Click to photos #8 and #9. Not much to look at, like an ameba.
Comment by admin — November 14, 2008 @ 1:38 am
There is a nice image gallery of historic photos.
Unfortunately, one mentions a Hubble Space Telescope
image of Supernova 1987A taken in 1987. HST was launched
in 1990! The photo is of dust and excited gas which is
re-emitting light from the explosion, and was taken several
years later.
Comment by Gerry — November 14, 2008 @ 1:48 am
This discovery is very exciting.
Here are some weired names they might like. Gluextalia, Exclarileus, Gladilea, Exclaria, Leoren, Excis, Treugo, Neubloda, Treuscia, Migherta, De Lushia, Earthania.
Yeah sounds like names for planets or galaxies.
Comment by J — November 14, 2008 @ 3:08 am
Its planet x!!!!
Comment by mikey — November 14, 2008 @ 4:37 am
“PegaMinor
PegaMajor
PegaMonster” LOL, pretty funny.
If anyone into this fascinating stuff, check out the Orion’s Arm: orionsarm.com
Comment by Dmitriy — November 14, 2008 @ 7:36 am
Houston, I have a problem. Is the parent star called HR 8799? Are the planets called HF 8799b, c, and d?
Comment by Joan Jenrich — November 14, 2008 @ 9:41 am
Joan, I noticed the same thing. I think it might be a typo. It shows HR 8799 in one place and HF 8799 later down. All the more reason theses names has to go! For the planets I was thinking of fast food chains…
Quiznos
Zaxbys
Fuddruckers
Comment by admin — November 14, 2008 @ 10:05 am
Maybe they should have Palin name the planets, she is SUPER creative haha..
Comment by Josh — November 14, 2008 @ 11:01 am
I like Larry, Derrell, & my other planet Derrell.
Comment by CyberCarl — November 14, 2008 @ 11:02 am
CyberCarl – I think you’ve taken the lead in this contest.
Comment by admin — November 14, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Admin, you’re so funny. Thanks I think it was a typo too.
Comment by Joan Jenrich — November 14, 2008 @ 7:32 pm