Courtesy of Randy McDonald, the International Astronomical Union is organizing a contest to name exoplanets and the stars they orbit.
A long time ago, when my friend JKR and I were thinking about these things, it seemed obvious that habitable planets discovered by Americans would be named after famous fictional worlds: Barsoom, Krypton, Trantor, Vulcan, Coruscant, Tatooine. (Did I miss any, JKR?)
Are any of those under copyright? If they are, then the IAU rules will prevent using them.
I still think that the first planet we discover with an oxygen-rich atmosphere that is not a water world should be named Barsoom. I mean, obviously. So please, do not vote for Barsoom until we know.
Hmm, I can think of other fictional planets, but any as famous as those?
I do think that in the Star Wars universe, Alderaan is probably more famous than Coruscant, which didn't appear in the movies until the Special Edition refits of the original trilogy.
Klingons became a big thing in latter-day Star Trek fandom, but their home planet's name was retconned to "Kronos" in "Star Trek 6", which might be problematic, since the Greek Kronos/Cronus was identified with Saturn. I guess if there's some extrasolar planet called Barsoom, that's not much worse.
Posted by: Matt McIrvin | January 16, 2015 at 09:22 PM
I'm with you an Alderaan, but it was blown up. Of course, so was Krypton. I think the horrible prequel trilogy (of which I've seen snippets, but never an entire film) made Coruscant more famous.
(I remember Alderaan more from Hardware Wars than Star Wars. I'm old.)
So we really got the most famous ones? If that's right, we earned serious nerd points!
Posted by: Noel Maurer | January 16, 2015 at 09:27 PM
...Arrakis, of course. I always bounced off of Dune, but it's popular and influential.
Caprica and Kobol, from Battlestar Galactica (either original or extra crispy). Though the name Kobol was lifted from Mormon cosmology, so it might be touchy.
If Barsoom qualifies, then Perelandra and Malacandra might too.
It's geekier, but Mesklin would be a great one. The real universe's extrasolar planets seem to be more like Hal Clement planets than anyone else's.
Posted by: Matt McIrvin | January 16, 2015 at 10:08 PM
Anyway, I suspect "under copyright" probably rules out nearly all of these, if by that they mean "in a work under copyright".
Posted by: Matt McIrvin | January 16, 2015 at 10:18 PM
Congress is now not just ruining America, but the universe. Serious question: is there any reason not to go back to the original statute of 14 years plus another 14 on renewal?
Posted by: Noel Maurer | January 16, 2015 at 10:50 PM