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If a Ninth Planet is discovered in the Outer Solar System, should it be called Hercules?

What Roman deity would you choose?

  • Total voters
    29
I'd be in favor of Dionysus because then it'd create opportunities to associate the new planet with wine and pleasure which would make science pop culture cooler.

I have no objective way to know if science channel docs are accurate but one I recently watched made a pretty strong argument for one. Whether it's a rogue planet or the fifth gas giant that got ejected from the early solar system according to predictive models.
 
rhubarbodendron said:
The six suggested names all pose a bit of a problem:
  1. Hercules - name already exists as name of a constellation
  2. Persephone - name already exists as name for asteroid #399
  3. Terminus - not a good idea as it translates as "the last one" - it'd be a bit awkward if there turned out to be one (or several) beyond it
  4. Erebus - name already exists as a crater on Mars
  5. Minerva - name already exists as name for asteroid #93
  6. Dionysus - name already exists as name for asteroid #3671
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I don't think it matters. Craters, asteroids, etc, might be named after Roman deities, but.... they are names of a different class of object or feature. It would be like saying you can't name a new building after an American president just because there is a remote high school already bearing the name.
 
I seem to recall one of Larry Niven's novels naming three gas giant planets beyond Pluto. Unfortunately I don't remember which one, though I believe they all started with "A" and may have been named for levels of Hell or some other underworld.
 
Doom Shepherd said:
I seem to recall one of Larry Niven's novels naming three gas giant planets beyond Pluto. Unfortunately I don't remember which one, though I believe they all started with "A" and may have been named for levels of Hell or some other underworld.
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"The Borderland of Sol" (1975), short story by Larry Niven that takes place ca. 2640. Pluto is dismissed as an escaped moon of Neptune, while the solar system's outer planets are listed as Neptune, Persephone, Caïna, Antenora, and Ptolemea, after the innermost rounds of Dante's Inferno, with Judecca reserved for the next discovery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_planets_of_the_Solar_System#Literature
 
{{{{{TV}}}}}}! Long time no see! - oops, rhyme not intended!

Jesus would be too explosive, politically, I think. We don't want WW3 to start over a planet's name. For the same reason I'd exclude Mohammed and Jehova.
I, too, have been considering northern deities as they would be ideal for outer and therefore very cold planets. But I'm afraid European deities are already vastly overrepresented in space. We should give Native American or African deities a chance. As for Asia: Hinduism with its over 1 million smaller gods would be an excellent name source for the complete Cuiper Belt.

How about Ishtar aka Inanna? Female deity from Western Asia (Mesopotamia, to be precise). Since she was responsible for both love and war, she'd fit with everyone's ideals.
 
Locutus of Bored said:
"The Borderland of Sol" (1975), short story by Larry Niven that takes place ca. 2640. Pluto is dismissed as an escaped moon of Neptune, while the solar system's outer planets are listed as Neptune, Persephone, Caïna, Antenora, and Ptolemea, after the innermost rounds of Dante's Inferno, with Judecca reserved for the next discovery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictional_planets_of_the_Solar_System#Literature
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THANK YOU! Trying to remember where it was has been driving me crazy ever since this topic came up. Now I just have to find which of my books had that story in it.
 
Doom Shepherd said:
THANK YOU! Trying to remember where it was has been driving me crazy ever since this topic came up. Now I just have to find which of my books had that story in it.
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"The story was originally published in Analog, January 1975, printed in the collection Tales of Known Space, Niven, Del Ray, reissued 1985 (ISBN 978-0-345-33469-5), and reprinted in Crashlander, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 160–207 (ISBN 978-0-345-38168-2). The story won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1976 and was nominated for the Locus Poll Award for Best Novelette in 1976."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Borderland_of_Sol
 
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Herbert said:
I say Myanus because having one planet called Uranus and another called Myanus would be funny
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It depends on how they're pronounced. My tenth grade science teacher made us say it like "YERRRR-uh-nus" to be closer to the Latin. I happened to be out with pneumonia the day he announced that, and so I unwittingly said it the "normal" way in class one day, resulting in some chuckles from the other kids. The teacher was not amused. :vulcan:

Kor
 
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