27 replies to this topic

[mic of orion]

Well 5 above mentioned planets were known for a very long time, before records started, but it is logically to assume that mercury was discovered before Saturn. Neptune and Uranus were discovered relatively recently (1781 and 1846)

[ExplorerAtHeart]

No one can possibly know when Venus, Jupiter mars etc were 'discovered' since they are naked eye planets. I know time of discovery is the most important, but when they are discovered at the same time the closet planet to the star is named b, the second closest is c and so on. Since discovery date is unknown, special circumstances should denote a default to discovery at the same date. Since the convention for same date discovery is to letter the planets in order from the star it should be mercury b, venus c, earth d and so on.


You could even argue that the Earth wasn't discovered as a planet until the heliocentric model was adopted.

[btw saturn is a naked eye planet in the outer solar system, and mercury is hard to see, so Saturn would be the easier to to discover first.]

[jjf3]

BOOM! I am actually doing a paper right now about how religion has suppressed scientific findings ever since ancient times.

[truthiness]

BOOM! I am actually doing a paper right now about how religion has suppressed scientific findings ever since ancient times.

ok?

I agree with Explorer... the 6 visible planets, including Earth ought to be labeled b-g in order of distance from the sun, followed by h and i - Uranus and Neptune...

But I'm not through mucking up the waters. Not by a long shot. What about Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and the handful of other asteroids which were originally considered planets? They were discovered after Uranus, but before Neptune. What about dwarf planets? How would those be labeled? What if it is decided one of these days that Jupiter is actually a small brown dwarf star or "proto-star" or something? Would Saturn become Sol f, or would "Sol f" be "retired", leaving Saturn as Sol g, with no f?

[mic of orion]

BOOM! I am actually doing a paper right now about how religion has suppressed scientific findings ever since ancient times.

ok?

I agree with Explorer... the 6 visible planets, including Earth ought to be labeled b-g in order of distance from the sun, followed by h and i - Uranus and Neptune...

But I'm not through mucking up the waters. Not by a long shot. What about Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and the handful of other asteroids which were originally considered planets? They were discovered after Uranus, but before Neptune. What about dwarf planets? How would those be labeled? What if it is decided one of these days that Jupiter is actually a small brown dwarf star or "proto-star" or something? Would Saturn become Sol f, or would "Sol f" be "retired", leaving Saturn as Sol g, with no f?

Jupiter is too small to be a proto star/brown dwarf, for that it must have mass of at least 6 times greater (smallest brown dwarf).

[ExplorerAtHeart]

Nobody has officially hammered it out though becasue nobody is going to use exoplanet designations on sol sys planets unless you are worldbuilding a scifi universe that has a neutral perspective. Or if you are an alien. Its fun to think about though and i think my method works best due to the unknown discovery date thing.

But I'm not through mucking up the waters. Not by a long shot. What about Ceres, Pallas, Vesta, and the handful of other asteroids which were originally considered planets? They were discovered after Uranus, but before Neptune. What about dwarf planets? How would those be labeled? What if it is decided one of these days that Jupiter is actually a small brown dwarf star or "proto-star" or something? Would Saturn become Sol f, or would "Sol f" be "retired", leaving Saturn as Sol g, with no f?

This is why we default to bcd, at least in this age we have recorded discovery dates of planets. [Jupiter is never going to be labled a brown dwarf, first of all, you need 13 Jupiters to qualify as a BD. Anything smaller can be considered a planet.

[antovador]

Some names used in Sci fi novels already exist as Arrakis, also known as Mu Draconis, a star not a planet.

[Time_Traveller]

Some names used in Sci fi novels already exist as Arrakis, also known as Mu Draconis, a star not a planet.

Well we don't have to stick with Sci-Fi Planet names they can be used for stars as well.

Edited by Time_Traveller, 22 February 2012 - 10:57 AM.