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

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


Original Submission

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Large Moon Confirmed Around Slowly Rotating Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10 2 comments

The dwarf planet 2007 OR10, estimated to be the fourth largest known Kuiper Belt object, has a companion:

2007 OR10 is the largest body in the solar system with no common name. And now, the no-name dwarf planet with a diameter between 800 and 950 miles (1,290–1,528km) has been discovered to have a moon.

[...] OR10 has a very slow rotation rate, which hid the moon in plain sight from Hubble for quite some time. It's a large moon for OR10's size, estimated at 150 to 250 miles (240–400km) in diameter.

The satellite was found in 2016 after astronomers analyzed Hubble images from 2010.

Many KBOs/TNOs appear to have satellites. Here's a list.

Discovery of a Satellite of the Large Trans-Neptunian Object (225088) 2007 OR10 (open, DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/aa6484) (DX)


Original Submission

Public Asked to Vote on a Name for Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10 26 comments

The dwarf planet 2007 OR10 will get a proper name soon:

Astronomers have asked the public to help name a minor planet in our Solar System discovered in 2007.

The dwarf planet, which orbits the sun beyond Neptune, has since been referred to as (225088) 2007 OR10.

Now the scientists who discovered it are asking the public to help pick a catchier name. The options are Gonggong, Holle and Vili.

The winning name will be formally suggested to the International Astronomical Union.

Gonggong is a Chinese water god with red hair and a serpent-like tail. He is known for creating chaos, causing flooding, and tilting the Earth.

Holle is a European winter goddess of fertility, rebirth, and women, while Vili is a Nordic deity who defeated frost giant Ymir and used the body to create the universe.

Voting ends on May 10.

2007 OR10 has an estimated diameter of 1230 ± 50 km, and one known moon with a diameter less than 100 km.

Also at The Planetary Society and EarthSky.

Previously: Large Moon Confirmed Around Slowly Rotating Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:36AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:36AM (#961628)
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:54AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @12:54AM (#961633)

      Not windy and wild enough [youtube.com]

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday February 24 2020, @01:05AM

    by Gaaark (41) on Monday February 24 2020, @01:05AM (#961637) Journal

    gonggong:

    "Chinese water god with the head of a human and the body of a snake."

    Get it on, bang a gonggong, get it on...
    ....errrrr....maybe not.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @01:17AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @01:17AM (#961641)

    Trump will be sucking Chinese cock before this decade is out.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @01:57AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @01:57AM (#961656)

      Trump will be a nobody come Jan 2021

      • (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.

        • (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.

      • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by Grishnakh on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14AM (1 child)

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday February 24 2020, @02:14AM (#961666)

        I seriously doubt that. As much as I dislike Trump, I can already see the DNC working to get rid of Sanders so one of their billionaire-friendly candidates can take over. I foresee a repeat of 2016: the Dems shoot themselves in the foot *yet again* and then the other side wins the general election.

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by Grishnakh on Monday February 24 2020, @02:21AM

          by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday February 24 2020, @02:21AM (#961670)

          Just to expand on this, I'm reading articles now saying how we "need" Michael Bloomberg to "save" us from Sanders. Allegedly, according to these people, Sanders isn't "electable" and would surely lose in the general election. That's what they said about him last time, and it's the exact same thing these morons said about Trump back in 2016. "Trump isn't electable!" "There's no possible way Trump could win the general election!" So now they want me to believe their assertions about Sanders' electability? Why do these buffoons still have their media jobs anyway?

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by HiThere on Monday February 24 2020, @04:24AM (3 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 24 2020, @04:24AM (#961713) Journal

    Gonggong is a decent name, but I'm going to need help figuring out how to pronounce Xiangliu. It's not that I want to pronounce it in an authentically Chinese manner, though I wouldn't mind, but I don't speak a tonal language. It's that it doesn't seem to have any valid pronunciation at all.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday February 24 2020, @05:22PM (2 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Monday February 24 2020, @05:22PM (#961896) Journal
      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday February 24 2020, @08:18PM (1 child)

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 24 2020, @08:18PM (#961973) Journal

        a) that sends me to a page that requires javascript, so I won't use it
        b) I'm not after a translation, but rather a reasonable way to pronounce it. (After all, it's a personification's name. What it means is secondary.)

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday February 24 2020, @08:32PM

          by Freeman (732) on Monday February 24 2020, @08:32PM (#961979) Journal

          The page has a soundbite that pronounces it for you. You'd have to click on it to hear it.

          You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

          Here's another similarly useless quote for you:

          From the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 相柳 (Xiāngliǔ).

          https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Xiangliu [wiktionary.org]

          I assume, the latter bit of this quote is the pronunciation of the name, if you knew how to speak Chinese:

          Xiangliu /ʃæŋˈljuː/,

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangliu_(moon) [wikipedia.org]

          I certainly don't, but the Google Translate soundbite seemed pretty reasonable to me.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @10:10AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 24 2020, @10:10AM (#961769)

    from makemake to gonggong.

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