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NASA renames faraway ice world 'Arrokoth' after [Nazi] backlash
AFP ^ | Nov 12, 2019

Posted on 11/12/2019 12:50:31 PM PST by 11th_VA

Ultima Thule, the farthest cosmic body ever visited by a spacecraft, has been officially renamed Arrokoth, or "sky" in the Native American Powhatan and Algonquian languages, following a significant backlash over the old name's Nazi connotations.

The icy rock, which orbits in the dark and frigid Kuiper Belt about a billion miles beyond Pluto, was visited by the NASA spaceship New Horizons in January this year, with the first detailed images showing it consisted of two spheres stuck together in the shape of a snowman.

Its technical designation is 2014 MU69 but the New Horizon team initially nicknamed it Ultima Thule (pronounced Tool-ey) after a mythical northern land in classical and medieval European literature described as beyond the borders of the known world.

That name sparked a backlash, however, because it was co-opted by far-right German occultists in the early 20th century as the fabled ancient northern country of the "Aryan" people (the term they used to describe proto-Indo-Europeans).

Their Thule Society later became Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, and the term remains popular in alt-right circles: it is, for example, also the name of a Swedish white-power rock group.

The new official name, which was chosen by the New Horizons team and ratified by the International Astronomical Union, was announced in a ceremony at NASA headquarters Tuesday. A subsequent NASA statement made no mention of the controversy.

(Excerpt) Read more at afp.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Germany; Government
KEYWORDS: 2014mu69; algonquian; arrokoth; astronomy; chat; kuiperbelt; newhorizons; powhatan; science; ultimathule; xplanets
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To: 11th_VA

The Romans called the Island of Saint Kilda, “Ultima Thule”.


21 posted on 11/12/2019 1:08:02 PM PST by yarddog ( For I am persuaded.)
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To: 11th_VA
Well, renaming the thing is all fine and dandy, but have any of these lefty's considered what the rock's pronouns are going to be.

HMMM?

22 posted on 11/12/2019 1:08:15 PM PST by skimbell
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To: 11th_VA

I see they were too lazy to at least find an algonquin word for falling star, or rock in the sky. It makes no sense to call a rock ‘sky.’


23 posted on 11/12/2019 1:09:48 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: 11th_VA

This makes Muslims feel better about themselves HOW, exactly?


24 posted on 11/12/2019 1:11:29 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: teeman8r

NAZI = “National Socialist German Workers’ Party”.

Socialist...

Do you get that, liberal leftists????

Socialist = Bernie Sanders, Ajax Occasional Kotex....and many other liberal leftists...


25 posted on 11/12/2019 1:12:28 PM PST by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: Skywise

“And yet if it had been named Wakanda they would’ve celebrated NASA’s progressive diversity.”

you got that right..these pukes will never stop until whites are eradicated.


26 posted on 11/12/2019 1:13:06 PM PST by max americana (Fired ONE libtard at work at every election since 2008 because I enjoy it. I hope every lib die.)
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To: 11th_VA
Need to see about getting my money back for unwittingly purchasing a Nazi bike rack...


27 posted on 11/12/2019 1:13:48 PM PST by Hatteras
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To: Buckeye McFrog
This makes Muslims feel better about themselves HOW, exactly?

Muslims supported Hitler ... just sayin

28 posted on 11/12/2019 1:14:24 PM PST by 11th_VA
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To: SunkenCiv
Ping, I think...


29 posted on 11/12/2019 1:23:12 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^s)
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To: 11th_VA

30 posted on 11/12/2019 1:27:39 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Hatteras

Looks like it could haul a howitzer.


31 posted on 11/12/2019 1:29:43 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191110-mexico-citys-walking-fish


32 posted on 11/12/2019 1:31:55 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: colorado tanker

Nazis should buy Greenland and all move there.


33 posted on 11/12/2019 1:34:11 PM PST by GraceG ("If I post an AWESOME MEME, STEAL IT! JUST RE-POST IT IN TWO PLACES PLEASE")
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To: 11th_VA
What will happen to the periodic table?


34 posted on 11/12/2019 1:50:27 PM PST by rfp1234 (Obscured by Clods)
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To: rfp1234

They should change it to Ah!, the element of surprise because no one expects the Spanish inquisition.


35 posted on 11/12/2019 1:54:34 PM PST by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: 11th_VA

Dune, Arrakis. Desert world. Home of the Fremen. Never a drop of rain. The spice must flow.

CC


36 posted on 11/12/2019 1:56:32 PM PST by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV)
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To: 11th_VA

Esta mierda otra vez? and now I suppose the perpetually offended will demand that Thule Greenland is renamed, too...


37 posted on 11/12/2019 1:59:12 PM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys-you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: glasseye

You mean “Blacks”?


38 posted on 11/12/2019 2:01:15 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: 11th_VA
Aside from the fact that "Ultima Thule" is a name given to a far off region,the person who named it could have just been a big Space:1999 fan.


39 posted on 11/12/2019 2:05:52 PM PST by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: 11th_VA

They could have renamed it ‘Atzlan’ after another, more politically correct mythical homeland.


40 posted on 11/12/2019 2:07:21 PM PST by hanamizu
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