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Large Kuiper Belt Object 2007 OR10 Finally Given a Name: Gonggong

posted by martyb on Monday February 24 2020, @12:36AM   Printer-friendly

takyon writes:

2007 OR10 is now known as 225088 Gonggong, and its moon has been named Xiangliu:

Not far behind Pluto, the fifth-largest dwarf planet in the solar system hasn't had a name since it was discovered in 2007. It's just been hanging out beyond Neptune under the boring catalog designation 2007 OR10.

Well, that's officially changed as the previously largest unnamed body in the solar system is now officially Gonggong, named for a Chinese water god with the head of a human and the body of a snake.

And as a cool bonus, the tiny moon that orbits Gongong is named Xiangliu, after the minister that attended to the deity in Chinese folklore. The pair make up the first major solar system bodies to have Chinese names, according to astrophysicist Simon Porter.

Minor Planet Center.

See also: Seven Worlds in the Solar System That Could Be Just As Weird As Pluto

Standing on its surface, the icy ground would look dark and red, like Pluto. Indeed, 2007 OR10 is one of the reddest worlds astronomers know of. That reddish hue hints at the presence of complex organic compounds astronomers call tholins.

[...] Research published in 2011 [open, DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/738/2/L26] [DX] also showed that 2007 OR10 has a fresh surface covered in water ice. Astronomers think it's evidence of cryovolcanoes, where slushy ice erupts from below the surface like lava.

Previously: Large Moon Confirmed Around Slowly Rotating Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10
Public Asked to Vote on a Name for Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10

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  • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14AM (#961665)

    I've got a feeling Trump will be re-elected in a landslide election, and Pelosi and the rest of the Demokrauts will be applying for a job at Taco Bell in 2021.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Grishnakh on Monday February 24 2020, @02:25AM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday February 24 2020, @02:25AM (#961674)

    Sorry, no, that's pure fantasy, and you obviously have no idea what's going on politically in this country.

    I do agree that Trump will probably be re-elected, but it'll be another close race just like the last one, and quite possibly another one where he loses the popular election but still wins the Electoral College.

    Pelosi is in little danger of losing. She doesn't run in a national election; she runs in a Senate race in her own state, California. If she loses in her own state, it'll be to another Democrat.

    Basically, the two sides are getting more and more entrenched and polarized in their respective states. California is in zero danger of switching to the GOP anytime soon, just like Alabama and Wyoming are in zero danger of switching to the DNC anytime soon.