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Astronomers Name New Planet After Biden

Doug Mataconis
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Biden Sunglasses

America’s 47th Vice-President has apparently been memorialized in the heavens:

Astronomers have nicknamed a new dwarf planet circling the sun at the outer edges of the solar system after Vice President Biden.

According to Nature, a leading scientific journal, the object’s official designation is 2012 VP113. But the team studying its orbit around the sun colloquially refer to the planet as just “VP” or “Biden,” after the sitting vice president.

Somehow, I have to imagine that Planet Biden is a very interesting place.

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7 responses to “Astronomers Name New Planet After Biden”

  1. OzarkHillbilly Avatar
    OzarkHillbilly

    You need to fix the title of the post Doug. They did not “name” the planet after Biden. It is currently called VP-113, or Biden (Vice President) for short until it receives a proper name. I forget the exact protocols for naming a planet but it has something to do with ALL names being Greek/Roman Gods. Biden does not yet qualify for that designation.

  2. Dave Schuler Avatar
    Dave Schuler

    They’re calling a new planet “Brain-Damaged”?

  3. PJ Avatar
    PJ

    Also, it’s not a new planet, it’s a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet, for example Pluto, is not a planet.

  4. rodney dill Avatar
    rodney dill

    @PJ: Along the lines of “Pluto” and based on the headline I figured they’d named it “Goofy”

  5. mike shupp Avatar
    mike shupp

    The rules don’t permit naming a planet, even a “minor planet”, for a living person, which is the main reason the “Biden” designation won’t last. Unfortunately, it’s just a bit too far out, and a little bit too isolated — if 2012 VP113 were in the asteroid belt, it’s a small enough body that the name might be allowed.

  6. bill Avatar
    bill

    @Dave Schuler: good one, i thought they were renaming uranus!

  7. Tyrell Avatar
    Tyrell

    @mike shupp: “a little far out”: well, that would be very appropriate.

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