Eris and Dysnomia (Discord and Lawlessness)---it's official as of 13 Sept

[Martin]

that "planette" bigger than Pluto, which Mike Brown of Caltech discovered and temporarily nicknamed "Xena"

has now been given its official name, as has its little moon.

 

As discoverer, Mike got to pick the names.

 

It went into effect 13 September, yesterday. there was a circular sent out from the IAU Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams.

 

As of today, the Wiki article has already been corrected

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/136199_Eris

 

Here is yesterday's announcement:

scroll down to the dwarf planet section at

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Headlines.html

or click directly on

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/special/08747.pdf

 

Eris is the Greek goddess of DISCORD

 

The moon of Eris, as an alternative to "Eris I", has been named DYSNOMIA

which means LAWLESSNESS (and fits nicely with Discord)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_%28moon%29

 

plus, as a medical term, it means a kind of forgetfulness---trouble remembering names or words for things in general

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_%28disease%29

[Sisyphus]

I love it. And somewhat appropriate, given the chaos of taxonomy and eventual downfall of Pluto that it in large part caused.

 

As for the moon, well, "nomon" can mean law, name, custom, or conventional wisdom. This moon, then, is symbolically without and against those things, appropriate for one so utterly remote from light and the ways of man.

[Martin]

I love it. And somewhat appropriate' date=' given the chaos of taxonomy and eventual downfall of Pluto that it in large part caused.

 

As for the moon, well, "nomon" can mean law, name, custom, or conventional wisdom. This moon, then, is symbolically without and against those things, appropriate for one so utterly remote from light and the ways of man.[/quote']

 

classical education with decent Greek, a valuable and lovely window on the world, not to be shuttered or ignored.

 

I dont have it, but I appreciate the vistas other people get.

 

BTW it has been years since i read Iliad but it seems to me that the goddess Eris appears there at times amongst the Hellenes and causes them no end of trouble

 

or maybe I am thinking of somebody else like Phobos or Deimos. anyway IIRC there are some real minor divinities that take part in the action.

[AzurePhoenix]

BTW it has been years since i read Iliad but it seems to me that the goddess Eris appears there at times amongst the Hellenes and causes them no end of trouble

she starts the whole thing by throwing a golden apple (the apple of discord) between a few other goddesses engraved with something along the lines of "for the most beautiful of all," so they argue over who gets it, they decide to let a mortal choose, they pick Paris of Troy, they all offer him stuff to pick them, Aphrodite offers him the most beautiful woman, so he picks her, she makes Helen of greece fall in love with him, he takes her to Troy, her husband it pissed, blah blah blah from there. Go Eris!

[J.C.MacSwell]

I love it. And somewhat appropriate' date=' given the chaos of taxonomy and eventual downfall of Pluto that it in large part caused.

 

As for the moon, well, "nomon" can mean law, name, custom, or conventional wisdom. This moon, then, is symbolically without and against those things, appropriate for one so utterly remote from light and the ways of man.[/quote']

 

Naw, it's just that he had a falling out with Lucy Lawless. So he took away the name Xena for the planet and named the moon Lawlessness.

[Martin]

she starts the whole thing by throwing a golden apple (the apple of discord) between a few other goddesses ...

 

Good!

funny that if you change one letter in her name you get Eros.

[mooeypoo]

I dont understand.. if Mike picked the original "nickname" (Xena), and then was allowed to pick the permanent name, why change it at all? Why not just keep it Xena?

 

~moo

[AzurePhoenix]

I think there's some sort of code of conduct or at least a very strong tradition requiring that worlds and their moons be named after religious deities, in our system's case, roman ones, some greek. A fictional tv amazon doesn't fit well among the honored

[[Tycho?]]

I dont understand.. if Mike picked the original "nickname" (Xena), and then was allowed to pick the permanent name, why change it at all? Why not just keep it Xena?

 

~moo

 

Xena was a nickname only, never intended for regular use. Plus, he doesn't get total control over it, he couldn't name it "Mike's Planet" for example. Keeping it within mythology, particularly greek or roman is more appropriate, and more likely to be approved by the IAU.

[ecoli]

I think there's some sort of code of conduct or at least a very strong tradition requiring that worlds and their moons be named after religious deities, in our system's case, roman ones, some greek. A fictional tv amazon doesn't fit well among the honored

 

"I told you, I'm not Xena. I'm Lucy Lawless."

[Daymare17]

A fictional tv amazon doesn't fit well among the honored

 

They would have pleased everyone, had they named it Hercules