# 10th planet has a moon too! (Shall we call it Gabrielle?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536 "2005-10-03T05:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/1 "2005-10-03T05:45:41Z")
> **[News](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/?xml=%2Fnews%2F2005%2F10%2F03%2Fnxena03.xml&sSheet=%2Fnews%2F2005%2F10%2F03%2Fixhome.html)** > > Latest breaking news, including politics, crime and celebrity. Find stories, updates and expert opinion. > [@](#): > > Latest estimates are that the planet, nicknamed Xena (after the TV warrior princess) is about 20 per cent larger than Pluto and nine billion miles from the Sun. > > … > > “Having a moon is something that most self-respecting planets have, so it is good to see that this one does too,” said Prof Brown. Any progress on the official name of the new planet? ---
**Author:** ![Exploding\_Kitchen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Exploding\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exploding_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/2 "2005-10-03T06:07:14Z")
It’s already called Gabrielle. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/01/new.planet.moon.ap/?section=cnn\_topstories](http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/01/new.planet.moon.ap/?section=cnn_topstories) > [@CNN](#): > > But the newly discovered moon, nicknamed Gabrielle after Xena’s faithful traveling sidekick in the TV series, likely will not quell the debate over what exactly is a planet and whether Pluto should keep its status. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/3 "2005-10-03T06:14:03Z")
I really hate cutesy names for stuff. Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? Instead they used the name of a stupid TV show. Yeah, great. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/4 "2005-10-03T06:16:22Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I really hate cutesy names for stuff. Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? Instead they used the name of a stupid TV show. Yeah, great. :rolleyes: Just be happy it’s not Beavis and Butthead. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/5 "2005-10-03T06:18:47Z")
> [@Exploding Kitchen](#): > > It’s already called Gabrielle. > > [http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/01/new.planet.moon.ap/?section=cnn\_topstories](http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/01/new.planet.moon.ap/?section=cnn_topstories) Nitpick: Nickname. And the current official designation is S/2005 (2003 UB313) 1… Oh heck, let’s just call it Grabielle. Interesting what the Blogcritics say: [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/01/213206.php](http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/01/213206.php) > [@](#): > > Of course, the name issue may be decided pretty soon. The International Astronomical Union is deciding on “formal names” for both the planet and it’s moon. Probably something more mythological, more … boring. > > Personally, I think that the names we have for them say a lot about our culture. Planets (with the obvious exception of our own Earth) have always been named for legendary figures. Xena and Gabrielle certainly fit the bill there. No matter what, I think we’ll end up calling the planet Xena, and the moon Gabrielle, to the eternal consternation of professional astronomers. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/6 "2005-10-03T08:01:18Z")
They should name it **Alf**. (after that old 80’s sitcom) He knew there was a planet there waaayyy before these guys did. _Refering to the episode where **Alf** got one of the kids in trouble because the kid was doing a scale model of the solar system and **Alf** INSISTED that he put a tenth planet on there because well, there WAS one./_ Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/7 "2005-10-03T12:55:29Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I really hate cutesy names for stuff. Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? Instead they used the name of a stupid TV show. Yeah, great. :rolleyes: Yeah! They should have named them George and Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/8 "2005-10-03T13:55:31Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I really hate cutesy names for stuff. Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? I think they’ve pretty much used them up on planetoids and gas giant moonlets. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/9 "2005-10-03T14:11:38Z")
So are they calling it a planet, then? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/10 "2005-10-03T14:47:48Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > So are they calling it a planet, then? Well, sorta. [This article](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/ap_051001_newmoon.html), which is titled, “Scientists Discover 10th Planet’s Moon”, actually uses the phrase “so-called planet”, which in turn implies that the matter isn’t yet settled. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/11 "2005-10-03T14:50:48Z")
Maybe they should use some Lovecraftian names for planets, they would sound quite nifty, assuming you can pronounce them. I say call this planet Yuggoth. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/12 "2005-10-03T16:34:44Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Well, sorta. > > [This article](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/ap_051001_newmoon.html), which is titled, “Scientists Discover 10th Planet’s Moon”, actually uses the phrase “so-called planet”, which in turn implies that the matter isn’t yet settled. I’d say that having enough gravity to keep a moon is a pretty good argument for “planet” status. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/13 "2005-10-03T16:41:56Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I really hate cutesy names for stuff. Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? Instead they used the name of a stupid TV show. Yeah, great. :rolleyes: So, using the names of modern cultural icons is somehow less noble than using the names of past cultural icons? The Greek gods and goddesses were all made-up characters, too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/14 "2005-10-03T18:06:07Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Couldn’t they have stuck to the Greek and Roman gods theme like every other planet? You mean like the [moons of Uranus](http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970430c.html)? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/15 "2005-10-04T13:24:40Z")
From this morning’s NY Times, [9 Planets? 12? What’s a Planet, Anyway?](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/science/space/04plan.html?8dpc). Requires (free) registration to view. > [@](#): > > For the last 18 months, a committee appointed by the International Astronomical Union has been pondering in frustrating exactitude whether the word “planet” means anything anymore. … [One member of the committee] … described the process as “like trying to shovel frogs into a wheelbarrow - they keep jumping out again.” Myself, I like the “8 planets” thing. Just drop Pluto from the list. Makes it simpler. But if you’re going to keep Pluto, you’ve gotta keep “Xena”. Maybe even add that other Oort object they found recently; you know, the one that turned out to be just smaller than Pluto. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/16 "2005-10-04T13:44:19Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Myself, I like the “8 planets” thing. Just drop Pluto from the list. Makes it simpler. But if you’re going to keep Pluto, you’ve gotta keep “Xena”. Maybe even add that other Oort object they found recently; you know, the one that turned out to be just smaller than Pluto. Nah, Pluto has been a ‘planet’ too long to be reclassified. It should be grandfathered in. Given that Pluto is a planet (by tradition at least), I’d say an object larger than Pluto should also be a planet; but smaller objects shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/17 "2005-10-04T13:53:41Z")
The guy that wrote the article agrees with you, **Johnny L.A.** I don’t understand it myself: “Let’s do it this way because we’ve always done it this way” is hardly scientific. Still, as long as they come up with something _consistent_, I’m not gonna mind. Well, not that my minding is going to make one whit of difference anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/18 "2005-10-04T13:57:17Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > The guy that wrote the article agrees with you, **Johnny L.A.** I don’t understand it myself: “Let’s do it this way because we’ve always done it this way” is hardly scientific. I don’t like to register for articles (I get too much spam already), so I didn’t read the link. I don’t remember the scientific arguments in the other threads. But in my opinion the line between Planet and Not-A-Planet seems to be arbitrary. If it’s arbitrary, why not draw the line at Pluto? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/19 "2005-10-04T14:06:09Z")
Well, as I implied, the committee is very fractured. Some have taken my stance of just calling it 8 and being done with it. Many have taken your stance, basically saying let’s define a planet as anything Pluto-sized or larger. There’s at least one very loud guy (by the name of S. Alan Stern) of the opinion that anything large enough to be round should count, which means including objects such as Ceres, Sedna, etc. The committe is also looking at a related proposal that we also qualify all planets, rather than simply calling them planets. I.e., “Jovian planets”, “Terrestrial Planets”, and “Minor Planets”. So if we go with Dr. Stern’s proposal, you’ll count 4 jovians, 3 terrestrials, and countless minor planets from Mercury on down. As you say, it _is_ all arbitrary. We just need consistent nomenclature so we all know what we’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536/20 "2005-10-04T14:47:14Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’d say that having enough gravity to keep a moon is a pretty good argument for “planet” status. Given that at least 2 asteroids, Eugenia and Ida, have moons, that’s going to make for an awful lot of planets. [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991014.html](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991014.html) Personally, I’d vote out Pluto. If you include it, I think for consistency you would have to include too many other objects. (I suspect we will eventually find even more Oort objects close to Pluto’s size). After all, Pluto has only been considered a planet for 75 years, which is a pretty short time compared to the history of astronomy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10th-planet-has-a-moon-too-shall-we-call-it-gabrielle/324536.md?page=2)