[Bobboau]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1176365

it's even got a eh... ehiem, "faithful traveling partner" Gabrielle.

so this is how the solar system is going to colapse into a singularity of stupid.

[Mefustae]

I can just see Lucy Lawless reading this and thinking; "...Hmmm, I wonder if i'll get Royalties for this..."

[Rictor]

As long as the planet doesn't have a planet-sized version of that throwing-disc-blade-thingy, I'm happy.

Though they could have named it Hercules, after Xena's muscle-bound daytime TV brother. At least it could have been consistant in the naming scheme of things.

[Rson]

They'll probably name it after a Roman god, the others were, Mars, Neptune etc.

[deep_eyes]

was gonna post this but i felt kinda..... wierd if i started the thread lol...

[Grey Wolf]

It'll be changed. If it's changed to Heracles, though, I'm going to laugh.

[Fragrag]

I wished they would give it the same as one of the FS ships, Perseus, Lucifer or somethign cool

[StratComm]

It needs to be a Roman god.  I'd say Olympic god, but Saturn and Uranus are actually exceptions to that.  Hercules wouldn't be totally out of the question, though it would indeed be a strange choice.  The current name is just retarded though.

What will be interesting is whether this discovery forces the scientific community's hand on exactly what is classified a planet.  In a lot of ways Ceres should be a planet if Pluto is as it exhibits more similarities to a rocky planet than the iceball that Pluto is.  And this Kuiper belt object they just found is pretty similar to Pluto in a lot of respects.

EDIT: And at naming a 2000km-wide ball of ice "Lucifer"

[Flipside]

I believe Carna, Roman Spirit of the Underworld, who protected internal organs, used white magic and protected the exterior of houses (?) is front runner, so was Terminus, God of Boundaries, but was discounted, since they are saving that one for a planet they are sure is beyond Pluto.

Another interesting fact is that in Ancient Roman Poetry, Lucifer was the name of the morning star (Lux = Light, Feri = To bring, the bringer of light). And was the name the Romans frequently applied to the planet we now know as 'Venus'.

[Ford Prefect]

Many of the Devil's names refer to natural imagery from earlier mythologies, such as "lord of this earth", which is the same as the pagan "Spiritus Mundi". It goes back to Christianity's ontological dualism, viewing the physical world as an obstacle to the transcendence of one's soul.

[achtung]

They should really start using some ancient Greek names.
I think they sound cooler

[Liberator]

greek myth names > stupid roman ripoffs

[StratComm]

We only think that because we tend to learn the Roman names as planets before we do as mythological figures.  Think about it; if the Greek names had been used instead of their Roman counterparts, which would seem more mythical and exotic?

[Turnsky]

could be worse, they coulda called it "buffy"

[Mongoose]

Originally posted by Liberator
greek myth names > stupid roman ripoffs

Maybe so, but Greeks < Romans

[Grey Wolf]

Byzantine Empire > Holy Roman Empire.


Wait, wrong millenia...

[Ford Prefect]

There are some figures in classical mythology who are known as much or more by their Roman names, the chief example being Bacchus.

[Grey Wolf]

I always preferred Dionysus

[Carl]

Originally posted by StratComm
It needs to be a Roman god.  I'd say Olympic god, but Saturn and Uranus are actually exceptions to that

...what?

[Fragrag]

Originally posted by Flipside

(Lux = Light, Feri = To bring, the bringer of light).

Offtopic, but:

This is how you can see that your Latin teacher managed to drill you right, when I saw lux, I thought at once
"Lux, luc-is, f"
and
"Ferre, fero"

(Yes, I follow Latin...)