
Gotta be
Pinky & Perky!
A poll has been opened to decide the names for two newly discovered moons of Pluto, and so far the response has been phenomenal, the SETI Institute told El Reg. The two moons, the fourth and fifth found to be orbiting Pluto, have been provisionally named P4 and P5, but now the SETI Institute has teamed up with the …
"I was about to try and get the first post with a sarky comment aout how many fatuous suggestions would be posted here instead of posted on the appropriate site, but I see that..."
So you won't be supporting my proposals for Dagnut and Winnit?
Mind you, that fool Showalter missed the heaven-sent opportunity of applying those names to the couple of moons around Uranus, and instead went with some Shakespearean nonsense.
are things orbiting non-planets still considered moons
Well, things orbiting stars might get called planets or comets, for example ;-)
But yes: the requirements for moonhood are quite simple; be a natural satellite orbiting a larger body. Everything else is a bit fuzzy, especially as regards size (generally >1km diameter, but 1862 Apollo has an 80m diameter satellite) and size relative to its primary (where the two are similar, it is more like a binary planetary or asteroid system... Pluto and Charon are borderline), but there don't seem to be a whole load of disputes.
"term for Pluto, also Satan"
I suppose it's not worth pointing out that Abrahamic cultural appropriation notwithstanding, the underworld of the classical religious traditions was not, in fact, the Judeo-Christian Hell, and its ruler was really not the Christian Devil?
It probably isn't. After all, the lamentable 'Clash of the Titans' remake, and 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' pretty much ruled that they're the same thing.
On the other hand, I suppose from a Christian point of view, 'Dis' being a 'false god', His name is as much a name for Satan as that of Mars, or Neptune, or Venus...
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No. It was named by Venetia Burney from Oxford. And she named it for the god. At 11 years old, she was interested in the mythology of the classical cultures. Kids, huh? Tsk. Of course, then Facebook came along and made childhood so much more... something.
I've gone and submitted Pirithous as an alternative. It's one of my favourite "don't piss off the Gods" stories.
He and Theseus went down to the underworld with the intent of taking Persephone as his wife. Needless to say it didn't end well, what with them both being trapped on the chair of forgetfulness by Hades, and Theseus only being freed at the expense of his buttocks when Heracles harrowed hell to get Cerberus; Pirithous was trapped forever.
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