Vote to name largest minor planet in our solar system

[steve58]

A minor planet discovered in our solar system over a decade ago remains nameless, and the astronomers who made the heavenly find are now turning to the public for help.

Meg Schwamb, Mike Brown and David Rabinowitz discovered (225088) 2007 OR10 on July 17, 2007, at the Palomar Observatory in California, although early traces of its existence date back to 1985. Using a 48-inch telescope, the trio identified what they called the largest unnamed world in our solar system as it orbited the Sun beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt.

For almost 12 years 2007 OR10 has kept the clinical designation given to it by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) but after years of analysis and research, Schwamb, Brown and Rabinowitz have selected three names they feel best suit the Minor Planet and have put the decision up to a vote on their website.

Participants will be able to choose one of three carefully selected names: Gonggong, Holle and Vili.

Each name was pre-selected to match requirements set by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and has a special meaning that is relevant to the minor planet.

People will have until May 10 to submit their vote and the winner will be announced shortly after. It will then be submitted to the IAU for the final approval.

2007 OR10 consists largely of ice and rock, and astronomers believe that water may have existed on its surface at one point. In 2016 it was announced that the minor planet also had an orbiting moon.

The Minor Planet is not visible to the naked eye.

Vote here.

Cast your vote by 11:59 pm PDT on May 10, 2019.

Edited April 15, 2019 by steve58
corrected tags

[KerikBalm]

Quote

Vote to name largest [unnamed] minor planet in our solar system

Fixed it for you

[steve58]

Actually it does have a name, 2007 OR₁₀.  Its just not an official name, hence the voting.

[kerbiloid]

15 minutes ago, steve58 said:

carefully selected names: Gonggong, Holle and Vili.

These sound like the Jool moons... Do they play KSP?

Why Vili? Why not Ve? It would be even better.

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

2 hours ago, steve58 said:

Actually it does have a name, 2007 OR₁₀.  Its just not an official name, hence the voting.

That is official, but not a name. It's more of a designation.

[Mikki]

I just voted for Gonggong, time for some Chinese (Mandarin) names, really.

[Brotoro]

I was hoping for "MinorPlanety McPlanetFace".

[YNM]

"Gonggong" is what we'd call for dogs barking in my language, and I think Holle might be misused, so... yeah, I choosed Tripe.

 

Not really sure with the names chosen... It's like Uranus.

Edited April 15, 2019 by YNM

[kerbiloid]

If it's double again, they can use all three: "Hollie & Willie Gong-Gong".

[Hypercosmic]

Vote for Gonggong the Chaos Dragon! It would be great to have more non European/Hawaiian names for important objects. The name also goes along well with Eris, a planet with similar orbit named after the goddess of chaos.

I wonder if 2002 MS₄ will be named soon, too...

[kerbiloid]

If it was a Hawaiian observatory, the naming would be much easier.
Some three-syllable Hawaiian word translated as "That covered with flowers dancing sister of the glorious hunter running so fast".
 

[Dropbear67]

Cthulhu... you know it makes sense.

 

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

At first I was kind of torn, but you all are totally right about the lack of Mandarin names, or really any Asian names at all, so I'm going with Gonggong as well.@Hypercosmicmakes a good point about Eris, too.

 

And yeah, 2002 MS4 had better be next. We don't want any unnamed dwarf planets around here!