[meteorite-list] What to name Planet X (OT)

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

Hola Rob and list,

Planet X was already named Pluto!  This has  to be at least Planet Y:)  After 
considerable thought, I've decided to  nickname the new planet the "Mushroom 
Planet".  Likewise, my scientific one  word name shall be Basidium, if 
Basidium-X isn't politically correct with the  hyphen.  If others' choose not to 
follow, all the better.  My mind is  made up.  The Mushroom Planet was the 10th 
planet observed only by a  special filter designed by Mr. Bass - and he knew 
where to look back in  1954.

A short explanation:
Canadian-born Californian Eleanor Cameron's  (1912 - 1996) wonderful 
children's adventure novel ""The Wonderful Flight to the  Mushroom Planet," and its 
sequels in the 1950's captured the excitement of the  discovery of Pluto as she 
herself was a teenager, the sudden focus on space  travel in her 40's as she 
wrote the books, and the imagination, creativity and  enthusiasm of kids from 
the 1950's to at least the late 1960's as they secretly  beat Sputnik and 
Mercury years before JFK was president.  Dave - with whom  I could so well identify 
(and Cameron's only son in reality) - and his friend  Chuck, with the help of 
an enigmatic astronomer who was a first rate engineer,  not to mention their 
Uncle's with parts from the junk yard to build the rocket  fulfilled dreams of 
a generation at the leading edge of the present  discovery.
 
By the way Sterling, you have overlooked one little detail.  The  classes' of 
planets nomenclature ought to be after the largest member of their  group 
(e.g., Terra = Terrestrial Earth is largest; Jupiter = Jovian Jupiter is  
largest).  So instead of Plutonian we will have the Xenanians...or some  other 
similar periodic table of the elements sounding name.  

As  others have pointed out, finding a name for this new Xenanian, or in my 
case,  Basidomycetes order (fungi) of planets is difficult.  Perfect!  Fungi  
are not plan(e)ts for some and Basidium doesn't have to be a planet, except for 
 keyboard-challenged listmembers.  I think I'll just go on naming all the  
new discoveries after different fungi (mushrooms, puffballs, smuts, rusts and  
toadstools) since they like damp, cool places, low-light environments where  
people don't usually venture and frequently are ignorant even exist. That sums  
it up, I think.

This naming of modern discoveries with ancient or  medieval dieties is 
getting out of hand IMHO, what's next Tlaloc? Krisna? Jesus?  Mohammed?  Gautama?  
This IS a name game of a political nature of  sorts, not childsplay by any 
means as some would suggest anything to do with a  let's go out and play game.  
There is weak scientific classification need,  if that.  That's mostly why it 
hasn't been addressed before - not because  the IAU has supplanted popular 
language, common sense and Oxford, Noah Webster,  and Random House.  And we are 
seeing game-theory and manuvering at its best  by the mostly irrelevant 
scientific taxonomic community experts on planets, and  others who have decided that a 
new planet is or isn't possible because we either  do or don't allready know 
'em all.  As if calling Basidium a planet or not  really is a relevant 
scientific question with the menagerie we already have out  there!

Basidium (Xena, tastes great, less filling, you can call me...) is  a planet 
if its discoverer wants to call it so (who is more qualified than the  guy 
that found it). It can be estimated to have about same surface area as  Russia 
and Canada (the two largest countries), added together - and much, much,  much 
more than the USA including Alaska.  It is thought to be 56% the  diameter of 
Mercury which means it would have about one third the surface area  of Mercury. 
 (And a bit over 5% the area of Earth).  Mercury itself is  38% the diameter 
of Earth, so drawing the line between Mercury and Earth is much  more logical 
and justified than between Mercury and Basidium...

Saludos,  Doug
PS if the discoverer considers Basidium isn't a planet, that is his  right, 
too, though it would introduce an inconsistency with Pluto and completely  pull 
the lid off the can of worms.




En un mensaje con fecha  08/03/2005 2:28:35 PM Mexico Daylight Time, 
ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com  escribe:
Hi All,

How 'bout planet "Bumble", after the term of  endearment for the Abominable
Snow Monster from Rudolph the Red-Nosed  Reindeer?  ;-)  --R

-----Original Message-----
From:  meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com]
Sent:  Wednesday, August 03, 2005 10:53 AM
To: cynapse at charter.net; Meteorite  Mailing List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Astronomers to Decide What Makes a  Planet


Hi, Darren,

Brown wanted Persephone,  too. But it's taken, years ago, by a MINOR
planet.

ORCUS, a Greek name for the Afterlife is already taken by another really
big  KBO, 2000DW.  Eurydice?
Elysium?  Minos? Hades? The Underworld  names seems too negative for a happy
object. They may all be
taken by the  240,000 minor planets, some of whom are named for members of
this  List.

Brown has been searching for years. I'll bet he  long ago figured out a
good name for the Whopper
when he found it. We'll  see.

Sterling
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