That little bugger has been hiding all along – yes, a 10th planet lurks in our solar system, one that orbits good old Sol beyond farthest (till now) Pluto.
Dear old Pluto as the 9th planet was discovered in 1930, and every astronomer thought that was it for our own solar backyard, but the discovery of the 10th planet has thrown awry things astronomical, especially for publishers of astronomy books.
First detected in 2003 (but then not yet identified as a planet) it’s about the size of Pluto, lying 15 billion kilometres from Earth, and has been called '2003-UB313'.
I think the official designation of 2003-UB313 is a little unbecoming for a planet of our solar system considering 8 of the other 9 companions were named after Roman gods – sole exception is of course planet Earth (or Terra). Starting from the Sun, they are (Greek equivalent in parentheses):
(1) Mercury, the Messenger of the gods (Hermes)
(2) Venus, Goddess of Love (Aphrodite)
(3) Our Earth
(4) Mars, God of War (Ares)
(5) Jupiter, the biggest planet & appropriately Lord of the gods (Zeus)
(6) Saturn & its intriguing rings, Jupiter’s nasty dad (Zeus’ dad Cronus)
(7) Uranus, a pre-Jupiter/Zeus god (granddad of Zeus)
(8) Neptune, God of the Seas (Poseidon)
(9) Pluto, God of the Underworld (Hades)
So how would we go about selecting a name for the new planet if the astronomers wish to retain the Roman Gods theme?
To be continued ........
Earth, is also known as Gaia. She is the mother of all Gods (including a certain modern god we know as Jehovah). She gave birth to the titans who attempted to destroy her.. and in the process, somehow Zeus was born...
ReplyDeleteUranus is also Gaia's son. She then married Uranus, and gave birth to the Titans, Hecatonchires. Cronus castrated Uranus, and Gaia had sex with other gods. She gave birth to other monsters.. like Typhon (Zeus' mortal enemy)
Cronus later became mad... and started killing his own son. Gaia hid Zeus in her belly, in a place we now call Crete..
Then.. whatever lah.. Gaia is a slut. But then, without Earth, humans are nothing
Good one, Chewxy. Gaia gave Cronus a stone in lieu of Zeus, otherwise there won't be any Olympians - wait for my 2nd part.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Demeter (Roman Ceres) is better known as Goddess Mother of Earth, than Gaia has been.
Oh, did I say I love sluts? ;-) sorry, its's the male pig in me!