If this is not 'Planet X', what is it? (biggest solar system body found in more than 70 years)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | October 8 2002 | By Stephen Cauchi

[Sgt_Schultze]

An orbiting Death Star!

[1bigdictator]

Planet X: Rogue planet in a binary orbit between our Sun and another star; it's supposedly due to pass between the Sun and Earth sometime late spring or early summer. Is this correct?

[William McKinley]

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[Forgiven_Sinner]

I just read "Beyond this Horizon" by Robert Heinlein. In it, he names the 10th planet "Persephone", which is a far better name than Quaoar. I hope that name gets overruled, although the discover of a planet has some input to the naming process.

Quaoar violates the mythological convention that has been used for over 2500 years.

Is it a planet? Yes, although you could argue for it being a large asteroid.

[martin_fierro]

The "Quaoar" name is so obscure that Google only came up with one link. Fitting, I guess.

[TheLurkerX]

God forbid you'd name it Nemesis, like the Death Star theory back in the 80's dubbed it.

[js1138]

"It's arbitrary. You get into a real semantic sort of swamp. It's like trying to define life," he said.

Oooooh. A crevo thread.

[LibWhacker]

It can't be a planet; it's not named after a Greek God.

[weikel]

The fringes of the tinfoilers should be having a celebration right about now( you know planet Niburu where the shapeshifting lizards who control everything came from) lol.

[The_Victor]

Is it a planet? Yes, although you could argue for it being a large asteroid.

The problem is that the definition of planet/asteriod is not an absolute. It's like the boat/ship definition. A boat is anything that can fit on a ship. Yet the nuclear missile subs are still called boats (probably a hold-over from the days when subs could fit onboard a ship). If astonomers want to end this mess, they simply need to define in absolute terms (mass and orbit) what a planet is.

[aShepard]

Quaoar - named after the creation force of the Tongva Indian tribe, the original inhabitants of the Los Angeles area where the Caltech campus is located -

How totally P.C.!

[weikel]

And volume.

[blam]

Vulcan

[LibWhacker]

. . . it's not named after a Greek God.

Okay, or Roman! :-)

[Leo Carpathian]

>>How totally P.C.!

Next thing we will find out that Earth is the garbage can of Universe where all the evil and rotten was dumped to :-)

[steve-b]

It's arbitrary. You get into a real semantic sort of swamp.

Paging Bill Clinton....

[steve-b]

Quaoar violates the mythological convention that has been used for over 2500 years.

The asteroids have long since exhausted, not only Graeco-Roman mythologies, but those every other major civilization. A local tribal god is probably the best alternative that isn't already taken.

[daapfe]

Remember to read all the books in the Sacharia Sitchen series the earth chronicles...IF you want to learn more about Niburu and planet x....IT is the most logical and yet a little kookie of all the books i have read. AND the Niburuins are not Reptoids LMAO....

[PoisedWoman]

Quaoar. I hope that name gets overruled,

Yes, it's a stupid, unpronounceable PC name, indicating, it would seem, that the discoverers don't think it's a planet...it's almost as if they are trying to dissuade discussion by giving it a name only an aborigine could love.