Blazers offer suggestions for the newly discovered planets
After NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) discovery of seven new planets and the organization's tweet about their names, TRAPPIST 1-b through TRAPPIST 1-h, it wasn't difficult to guess what would happen next. People started posting all kinds of silly names. At Blair, many students were excited about the idea of the new planetary additions. Here are a few Blazer-created planet names.
The seven Earth-sized planets are clustered around a single star. Three are located in the habitable zone, which is the area around the star where the planet is most likely to have water. If the planets orbited a larger star, they would be fried to a crisp. However, all seven bodies are bathed in just the right amount of warmth to hold liquid water. Three of them receive the same amount of heat as Earth, Venus and Mars, putting them in "the habitable zone." The possibility of these planets being hospitable to people or other life forms is an intriguing proposition for NASA technicians to investigate, and also for Blazers to think about.
Next up is a more straightforward name by senior Leslie Hernandez. She based her name on the liking of the word and the popular zodiac sign, Aquarius. Though there isn't much meaning to the name itself, she wants the planet to have the same characteristics of Earth, but with a twist: no rules. It would be her own world but still resemble her home here on Earth. "Everything there is here but with no rules or anything," Hernandez says, chuckling.
Sadly, NASA will not be collecting names from the public but rather rely on the IAU's (International Astronomical Union) process for naming the planets. Let's just hope the new names aren't lifeless. If you would like to name one of these planets, tweet us @mbhsSCO.
Alyssa Berrios. Hi, my name is Alyssa and I'm a staff writer & social media manager. I like going to concerts, dogs and eating ice-cream! More »
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