Thread: MAH-kay MAH-kay
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Old 25-09-2008, 04:20 PM
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glenc (Glen)
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Haumea: Dwarf-Planet Name Game

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/28646964.html
On September 17th, the International Astronomical Union announced that an object in the Kuiper Belt — the fifth solar-system body large enough to qualify as a "dwarf planet" — had been named. It'll be called Haumea (pronounced how-MAY-uh), after the goddess of childbirth and fertility in Hawaiian mythology.

But there's far more to the story. When it comes to naming Kuiper Belt objects, the IAU typically accommodates whatever's suggested by the discoverer(s). In the case of Haumea, formerly designated 2003 EL61 and now formally numbered minor planet 136108, there's debate — controversy, actually — over who discovered it...
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