Somewhere Rob Talpert is LHAO
Oct. 3rd, 2005 07:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieFor those of you who don’t know, I’m actually quite interested in the natural sciences, despite my dismaying lack of aptitude in the math behind so much of it. I was thrilled to read about the recent discovery of a possible 10th planet in our solar system, and even more intrigued to hear that scientists now think they’ve discovered a moon revolving around it:
“While observing the new, so-called planet from Hawaii last month, a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology spotted a faint object trailing next to it. Because it was moving, astronomers ruled it was a moon and not a background star, which is stationary. The moon discovery is important because it can help scientists determine the new planet's mass.”
Then I read a little further, and almost fell out of my chair giggling:
“In July, Brown announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick. By determining the moon's distance and orbit around Xena, scientists can calculate how heavy Xena is.”
Geeks. Ya gotta love ‘em. The International Astronomical Union is deciding on formal names for Xena and Gabrielle, but in the meantime we have Xena and Gabrielle out in the system. And the IAU does tend to respect the wishes of the discoverer when it comes to name, particularly on objects like this that half of them probably won't want to call planets. (They're looking to revoke Pluto's planetary status, you know.)
“While observing the new, so-called planet from Hawaii last month, a team of astronomers led by Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology spotted a faint object trailing next to it. Because it was moving, astronomers ruled it was a moon and not a background star, which is stationary. The moon discovery is important because it can help scientists determine the new planet's mass.”
Then I read a little further, and almost fell out of my chair giggling:
“In July, Brown announced the discovery of an icy, rocky object larger than Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond Neptune. Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess." The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick. By determining the moon's distance and orbit around Xena, scientists can calculate how heavy Xena is.”
Geeks. Ya gotta love ‘em. The International Astronomical Union is deciding on formal names for Xena and Gabrielle, but in the meantime we have Xena and Gabrielle out in the system. And the IAU does tend to respect the wishes of the discoverer when it comes to name, particularly on objects like this that half of them probably won't want to call planets. (They're looking to revoke Pluto's planetary status, you know.)
