Boffins: There's a ninth planet out there – now we just need to find it Scientists at CalTech claim to have found proof that there is a ninth planet in the solar system, using computer modeling and historical astronomy data. The new planet has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and has a very eccentric path around our Sun, making one complete orbit every 10,000 or 20,000 years and travelling 200 …
Is it sad that my very first thought on hearing about this planet was that the UFO and End of The World people were going to seriously go nuts about it?
The only thing that could make it worse is if they find this planet only a few hundred years away (or less) from crossing the orbital path of a major planet like Jupiter or Saturn.
Should we name the new planet "Goofy"? Would work well with it's orbit!
This could also open up untold corporate sponsorship opportunities, such as "Walt Disney Corporation Presents Goofy--the Planet" or a certain coffee shop can name the planet Starbucks, so there really is a Starbucks in every corner of the solar system.
The money raised could be used for science education, which is a way of saying it will probably get spent on conference junkets.
@Big John
You know, I really like just plain "Planet Nine".
Or, continuing the sci-fi theme, why not 'Ix'?
But, if keeping the Roman god theme, then Bacchus might be an okay fit. Sure, it's unlikely that a god of wine would get the nod but Dionysus did leave Olympus to wander through Greece and beyond so that part fits.
But seriously, Planet names are weird. They are all Roman, except Earth, and strangely Uranus which is Greek. Many of the Solar System's moons are Roman or Greek, or else named after mythological figures from many cultures, Inuit, Gallic, Hawaiian, and so on. There are so many of them that we can assume the best names are already taken.
There might be worse ideas than to look to a synthetic mythology for a new planet name. Given Tolkein's day job, some character's from Middle Earth would at least sound right: Girion, Durin, Hirgon, Amrothos
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/Planets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_characters
I would disagree that all the best names are taken as there are so many different cultures and thus mythologies from which to draw. I am not saying that I disagree with the suggestion that Tolkien's characters should be considered, either for this or other astronomical bodies, just that I believe there is plenty of play left among the various mythological names still available. My vote is for Kokopelli as it fits the the planet's wandering path.
And no matter what, you can't call a planet "Bob"!
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GIven the orbit, it may really be a "drunk" planet.. but Bacchus name is already taken by an asteroid. Unluckily, the IAU "wasted" too many good mythological names for little asteroids, it looks they didn't believe any major planet could be found, nor some "dwarf" ones.
I would call it Chronus (AFAIK is not taken, but I could be wrong) - given the distance at it circles the Solar System, and the time it takes.
(Yes, I know Chronos instead woud make some Star Trek fans happy, but in Latin it's Chronus).
@LDS
Damn it!
But then Cronus is identified with Saturn for the Romans and that is also taken!! Saturn is actually the PERFECT name as Saturn/Cronus was expelled by Zeus/Jupiter, which is one of the likely theories of how the planet in question got its orbit!!
Double damn it!!!
"Pluto was also proved mathematically to exist but it was nearly 100 years later before it was confirmed, and then demoted to dwarf planet status in an infamous 2006 astronomers' vote."
As I understand it, irregularities in the motion of Neptune could have been due to a planet orbiting beyiond Neptune. But Pluto was not that planet. In fact, when it was discovered it was reported as being at the top of the error bar for the observed size, and even then it was too small to account for the irregularities. Subsequent observations narrowed the error bars, and the top one was consistently in a downward direction. By 2006 it was clear that (a) Pluto was much smaller than had originally been supposed, smaller in fact than some moons and only 70% the diameter of our own; and (b) it wasn't the proximate cause of the Neptunian irregularity. This led to the downgrading of Pluto.
And here is our very own Jocelyn Bell-Burnell announcing the result:
(The last time I saw J B-B she was handing round the tea at Bradford upon Avon Quaker Meeting, which is a slightly less august gathering.)
I know that some US astronomers still moan because Pluto was the only "planet" to be discovered by an American but come on, guys, the achievements of the US in astronomy are such that a potty little rock orbiting a G-glass star shouldn't be a bone of contention. You're bigger than that.
While mathematicians prove mathematical statements with absolute truth, mathematics is also used to do things in the real world, like building bridges. So using mathematics to find Neptune, although it worked, had nothing to do with proving Neptune's existence as though it were a theorem. So I don't see a problem with "mathematically" as an adjective entering into the description.
Yes, I was going to comment on this point after reading the article. After the discovery of Neptune, similar calculations were made which predicted another planet, and looking for that planet, Pluto was found. But those calculations were mistaken; not only was Pluto too small to cause the perturbations for which they were looking for a cause, but in addition, those perturbations weren't real (otherwise, another new planet, bigger than Pluto, would have been found by now - instead, the error in the observations used in the calculations has been found).
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