Comments on Mike Brown's Planets: S/1 90482 (2005) needs your help

Sotalia. The association of "Orcus" with "Orca" t...

2010-05-03T16:07:53.849-07:00

Sotalia.

The association of "Orcus" with "Orca" the killer whale has been mentioned. Let's take it further, although the etymology of the link may not be good. Despite that the species name is "Orcina orca", where orcina means 'of the dead' or 'belongs to Orcus'. So, IMHO a good association with dolphins.

The orca is the largest dolphin. The smallest dolphin species is the Tucuxi dolphin, Sotalia fluviatilis. Fluviatilis is 'riverine', river living, but "Sotalia"? The name has no meaning and the origin is obscure. Appropriate?

John

Plutinos are named after gods of underworld. I hav...

2009-12-16T15:24:08.785-08:00

Plutinos are named after gods of underworld. I have the feeling that (84922) 2003 VS2 should be named after a deity related with power, like "Balam" in the mesoamerican mythology.

More ideas for mythological research: (208996) 2003 AZ84 produces autenticity and transparency by restoring the equilibrium between form and contents, or between the inside and outside personality, like in the movie "Changing Lanes" (2002).

Nih'tihu.. yeah, it's a made up word. I propose it...

2009-08-31T08:29:59.960-07:00

Nih'tihu.. yeah, it's a made up word.
I propose it for no other reason than it sounds cool.. if you must give it personification, you're open to write any lore behind it you want. Or I can make one up for you. Is there any rule stating that you have to use the name of a mythological figure? Why not just be creative and think outside of the box?

Horus, an Egyptian Sky God

2009-07-06T20:48:32.766-07:00

Horus, an Egyptian Sky God

Vanth gets another vote

2009-06-14T07:57:46.640-07:00

Vanth gets another vote

I'm loving all of these different inputs from myth...

2009-05-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm loving all of these different inputs from mythology, gaming, and even the funny stuff like Colbert or Bob or EGON! (I'm a huge Ghostbusters fan)...

But what about the mysterious planet that Lovecraft mentions? The moon (especially if another satellite is found) could be called Thog, and its twin, if found, Thok.

I do also like the ideas of a female name: Vanth, Eurydice, Persephone. I'm also all gung-ho for Thanatos, Dispater, Phlegethon and Cocytus.

Aelix

2009-04-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Aelix

Considering where Pluto actually got its name, wha...

2009-04-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Considering where Pluto actually got its name, what about "Goofy."

Cerberus, because it fits really well with the nam...

2009-04-15T00:57:00.000-07:00

Cerberus, because it fits really well with the name Orcus and also goes well with the other combination of Pluto and Charon. Because Orcus and Pluto are both names for Hades God of the underworld and Charon is the ferryman who took the dead to the underworld and Cerberus is the three headed dog that guarded the entrance of the underworld.

Tenebrous!

2009-04-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

Tenebrous!

I think it should be named 'Persephone' as she was...

2009-04-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I think it should be named 'Persephone' as she was taken by Pluto into the underworld. The opposite orbits seems like the one runs from the other but are forever entwined. It is also a name that is easily recognizable by the public and the story of Hades - Pluto and Persephone is one of the more well know Greek myths.

I think it should be named 'Persephone' as she was...

2009-04-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

I think it should be named 'Persephone' as she was taken by Pluto into the underworld. The opposite orbits seems like the one runs from the other but are forever entwined.

Name it Hrolyn. Hrolyn is the most beautiful place...

2009-04-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

Name it Hrolyn. Hrolyn is the most beautiful place in the world. Besides, it is the sattelite of s too. But on Earth.

Archimedes

2009-04-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Archimedes

the fate Clotho. the spinner of the thread of life...

2009-04-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

the fate Clotho. the spinner of the thread of life.

"Troll"

2009-04-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

"Troll"

I suggest AshmugAshmug is a Zoroastrian and Persia...

2009-04-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

I suggest Ashmug
Ashmug is a Zoroastrian and Persian mythological figure in the form of a monster that disturbs the truth and makes one go astray. It encourages fighting by dilating and lying.
The reason for the choice is an absence of Persian names in astronomy. A cursory look at the history reveals that Persian civilization has always been akin to Greek and Roman civilizations. It has undoubtedly had an effect on other civilizations. Unfortunately, Persian mythology tends to be forgotten today, Greek and Roman mythology are extensively used in astronomy.
Let us not ignore the important role that Persians have always played in the development of astronomy. “Adoration of the Magi”, a painting by Giotto, is an example in which Persian astronomers have been depicted to be present at the time of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Selection of this name will certainly contribute to recognition of this ancient civilization which has greatly contributed to other civilizations. Further, I think juxtaposition of Orcus and Ashmug . have an alliterative effect.
jalal hojati fahim (jalal_hojati@yahoo.com)

I'm really surprised that no one's gone for the my...

2009-04-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

I'm really surprised that no one's gone for the mytholgical geekery and suggested "Libitina."

To quote the wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libitina

In Roman mythology, Libitina was the goddess of death, corpses and funerals. Her name was also a synonym for death [see Horace Odes 3.30].

Her face was seldom portrayed; hardly any sacrifices were offered to her, as they were to Orcus, her male equivalent. Today, her very name has sunk into such obscurity that it is seldom mentioned when the gods and goddesses of antiquity are reviewed. Her name was comparable to our idea of death, and she was worshipped by the ancients and often sung about by their poets. This female deity, remembered today mostly from Roman verse, was a reigning personification of Death. She was manifest as a black robed, dark winged figure who might, like an enormous bird of prey, hover above her intended victim until the moment came to seize it. In some traditions, she is the same as Venus or Persephone. Servius Tullius is said to have been the first to set up temples to her that housed all the equipment necessary for funerals, including gravediggers. Her temples also usually contained the registers of the dead. It is believed that the Colosseum had one gate dedicated to Libitina for all of the fallen gladiators that fought within the Colosseum.

As a deity of death, Libitina was most often invoked at funerals: it was a tradition for a coin to be brought to her temple when someone died, and undertakers were known as libitinarii. [1].

[edit] Sources

1. ^ Aldington, Richard; Ames, Delano (1968). New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Yugoslavia: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 209.

If there's an Orcus, the moon should definitely be Libitina.

I suggest "Fiona", wife of the Ogre > OrcusThe na...

2009-04-05T01:02:00.000-07:00

I suggest "Fiona", wife of the Ogre > Orcus

The name of the dark beings as “Ogre” derive the name of Orcus. It has been suggested for the moon Orcus names of the wife of Pluto, Persephone or Proserpina, as Orcus is the anti-Pluto. And why not name the wife of the Ogre? "Fiona."

Hi, all :)Gee, with the deadline looming (it's TOM...

2009-04-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, all :)

Gee, with the deadline looming (it's TOMMORROW!) the last few posts have been really good! And I say that as one who has not made very good posts, myself. Well, at least I admitted that I struck out. But we've had a lot of one-line and even one word posts. Not such great posts, especially if that word is "Colbert". I think maybe that word is destined to become one of those words automatically deleted by profanity filters /#

Having struck out on this blog entry, I have the unpleasant duty of informing all and sundry that I have discovered that I struck out again! I think it's appropriate for this blog, one of my pet projects has been the "Death Star", "Nemesis". I had vowed that if I were to be the lucky individual who discoverd the hypothesized object that I would name it Nemesis in honor of those who had the chutzpah to propose such a thing with as little evidence as they had before them at the time they proposed it (1984).

Their proposed "Death Star" supposedly perturbed deadly comets from the inner Oort cloud of comets. The inside of the Oort cloud is quite distant from the Sun. It would take the mass of a small star to do that.

As discovies by our host Mike Brown and others started coming in, a picture began to build of what the Kuiper Belt "looks like". It was supposed to look like a flat disc, an old-fashioned phonograph record, all orbiting in the same plane. But, no, it doesn't look like that. The clincher came when infrared images of other solar systems started coming in. About half of them did look like old '45's. But about half looked fat, like a dougnut or a bagel.

How can we see such things when we have so much trouble seeing our own Kuiper Belt? Paradoxically, what we see are not the large, spectacular objects like Eris or Triton. Instead we are seeing dust. Because of the square-cube law, the total area of a large amount of dust is much larger than if it were gathered into a single object. It's like the area of a can of paint while it's still in the can. When you spread it out with a brush, the area is much larger.

The doughnut shaped Kuiper Belts seem to have been damaged by a massive object. I've put this on GravitySimulator and one Jupiter mass won't do it. Three gives an effect, but it's rather anemic. Sixteen Jupiter masses gives a pretty good replica of our own Kuiper Belt.

For naming purposes we are now getting into the definitions of, not the smallest planets, but the largest. 13 Jupiter masses is large enough to ignite the fusion of deuterium with ordinary hydrogen. So it would be a star. Less than that (and orbiting our Daystar) would be a planet.

Names of Solar system objects are supposed to be unique to that object. There are not supposed to be minor planets (asteroids, traditionally), dwarf planets, terrestrial planets, or gas giant planets with the same name. I suppose you could pass for a star, but several lines of evidence point to the Death Star as probably being 10 Jupiter masses, so it would definitely be a planet.

Minor planet (asteroid) # 128, discovered in 1872 by J.C. Watson, is already named Nemesis.

:(

But that means that, if we ever find the thing (if it even exists!) we can have a new naming contest!

:)

-Michael C. Emmert

Name it PLATH after Slyvia Plath, the author of th...

2009-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Name it PLATH after Slyvia Plath, the author of the poem "Two Sisters of Persephone" here's an exerpt:
"Two girls there are : within the house
One sits; the other, without.
Daylong a duet of shade and light
Plays between these."
Follow the link listed to read the rest
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/sylviaplath/3156

An alternative is PROSERPINA (the Roman equivilant of Persephone )

My explanation: Plutos (Hades) moon, Charon, should really have been named after Persephone since she was his unlikley consort bound to him for eternity.
Persephone spent half of the year in Plutos presence ruling the underworld - but who was with her during the spring? Her mother Demeter, of course, but wouldn't it seem fitting for possesive Pluto to "disguise" himself as the Anti-Pluto (Orcus) to shadow her movements and ensure her return.
Orcus is Pluto in the springtime! PLATH or PROSERPINA is Persephone. Consider it. Thanks!

Phersipnei/Proserpina/Persephone is a truly tragic...

2009-04-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

Phersipnei/Proserpina/Persephone is a truly tragic figure, but they are already two asteroids with its name: (26) Proserpina and (399) Persephone. And after all, Persipnei/Phersipnei is a name borrowed by the Etruscans from the Greek. Kore sounds just fine, but is a moon of Jupiter. And variants like Proserpine and Core (like Nyx/Nix) strike me as less than elegant. Styx, Phlegyas and Thanatos are good candidates, specially the second, as it is mentioned in the Divine Comedy. However, the name I like best is "Vanth". But what is a "young vibrant female chthonic figure" doing with the "death and the underground"? (I know, she keeps company with the dead and other demons like Charun (a name too similar to Charon), but she seems to me too "nice" to be a denizen of the darkness. Others will argue that the Trans-Neptunian zone is in need of some female (preferably pleasing) figure, but I fancy its objects as dark and gloomy.

On the other hand, even the most ardent mythographer can find enough "classic" Etruscan/Roman/Greek gods among the Solar System's objects. Discoverers are turning to other sources (and for some time they have done so, witness the moons of Uranus). After all, many of the TNO are named after different traditions: MakeMake (Rapa nui), Haumea (Hawaiian), Quaoar (Tongva), Varuna (Hindu), Teharonhiawako and its moon Sawiskera (Mohawk), Huya (Wayuu), Sedna (Inuit) and others.

What about turning to the Mesoamerican gods?

Behold Tezcatlipoca. He was a central deity in Aztec religion (for the Maya, Tohil or Hurakan). Tezcatlipoca has enough features to turn the likes of Orcus/Pluto/Hades green with envy, and lesser ogres (like Shrek and Fiona) turn… to tears (they already are green). He is usually depicted with a black and yellow stripe painted across his face, and often shown with his foot replaced with a snake (he lost his foot battling with the Earth Monster). "Tezcatlipoca" in the Nahuatl language is often translated as "Smoking Mirror" an allusion to obsidian, a beautiful volcanic glass from which mirrors were made and used for rituals. Sometimes the mirror was shown in his chest, and sometimes smoke would emanate from the mirror. Tezcatlipoca nahual (his animal counterpart) was the jaguar. But, alas! there is an asteroid named (1980).

Tezcatlipoca was often described as a rival of another god of the Aztecs, the cult hero, Quetzalcoatl (Nahuatl, "Feathered Serpent", Maya, Kukulkan), inseparable from planet Venus, the morning star. But… you guessed, (1915) Quetzalcoatl is an asteroid. But we are not running out of options here. Mictlantecuhtli was the god of the dead and king of Mictlan (Maya, Metnal; Maya K'iche', Xibalba, already a feature on Ganymede), the lowest level of the underground. He is depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton. But "Mictlantecuhtli" is perhaps barely pronounceable by most people, and almost in the limits of the maximum length of sixteen characters; with "Mictlan" and "Metnal" (shorter names), probably good candidates for the name of other plutino.

Consider Xolotl. Not only for symmetry, Xolotl is an interesting character by himself. In Aztec mythology, he was the god with associations to both lightning and death. Although mentioned in relation of the underworld, it is not clear if Xolotl is a psychopomp in the Western sense. Xolotl did, in any case, aid the dead on their difficult journey to Mictlan, that took four years. Xolotl was also the god of fire and bad luck. He was the twin of famous Quetzalcoatl, son of virgin Coatlicue (Nahuatl, "The One with the Skirt of Serpents", and so depicted) and brother of Huitzilopochtli ("Hummingbird of the South"), the Sun. Xolotl accompanied Quetzalcoatl to retrieve the bones from those who inhabited the previous world, Nahui Atl, to create new life for the present world, Nahui Ollin. In a sense, this recreation of life is replayed every night when Xolotl guards the Sun when it goes through the underworld at night. He is the dark personification of Venus, the evening star. Mesoamericans, like other ancient people, thought that the morning star was different from the evening star. In art, Xolotl is depicted as a skeleton, a dog-headed man with ragged ears or a monster with reversed feet. Besides, "Xolotl" has the magic 'x', that makes many popular names so appealing [mind you, nahuatl had no 'x', for it had no modern letters; it is pronounced as 'sh']. Hereby, I cast my vote for "Xolotl".

In keeping with the "SAT Question theme", as Etrus...

2009-04-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the "SAT Question theme", as Etruscan predates Roman and Egyptian predates Greek, I'm surprised noone has put forth "Khu-en-ua". However, since Orcus is likely not of Estruscan origin [maybe Celt or Germannic?] maybe a Norse or Gaulic equivalent is caled for. Looking forward to the result!

Hera Cura

2009-04-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

Hera Cura

Phlegyas as opposed to Charon is a good name for t...

2009-04-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Phlegyas as opposed to Charon is a good name for the moon of Orcus the anti-pluto.

Phlegyas, son of Ares and Chryse, was king of the Lapiths in Greek mythology. He was the father of Ixion and Coronis. In the Divine Comedy Phlegyas ferries Virgil and Dante across the river Styx.

Additionally the son of Phlegyas, Ixion is a trans-neptunian that also belongs to the dynamical class of plutinos, as Pluto and Orcus.