What are we going to name it when it is found?
I trust we really don’t want “Planet Nine” (if we do, we should rename Earth to “Planet 3”), let alone “Planet X”. Any better ideas?
It will likely be a Greek or Roman name in keeping with tradition. The IAU generally let’s the person/group that discovers have an influence in the decision but they’re the final say on the name.
With two exceptions*, the names are from Roman mythology. So I’d expect the new planet to get a definitive name from the same template. (Please be Janus. It’s the gate of the solar system!)
*Uranus is from Greek mythology, with no good Latin equivalent. Terra is trickier; you could argue that it fits the template for Latin and the Romance languages, but most others simply use local words for soil, without a connection to the goddess. That is also called Tellus to add confusion.
Tellus would be a cool name for a planet, imo.
It would, indeed. I wouldn’t mind if it was the scientific/“proper” name for Earth.
I would; it’s too close to Telus (but pronounced the same), a terrible phone company where I live.
How do you pronounce the company name? For reference, Latin “Tellus” would be /tɛllu:s/; the nearest English equivalent would be “TELL loos”, I guess.
Tell-us, so more like it looks I guess.
If Mike Brown finds it, he’ll jump all over naming it, and I’m sure that’s part of his motivation for hunting it so doggedly. He’s like that.
I think they should call it Nibiru to feed the conspiracy theories.
I had a roomate ten years ago who seriously believed in all that crap. Lizard people from the edge of the solar system here to claim our gold.
