Hey! Let's Vote On Your Best Suggestions On What To Name 'Planet Nine'

By Eyder Peralta

Published January 25, 2016 at 1:58 PM CST

The imagined view from "planet nine" back toward the sun. Astronomers think the huge, distant planet is likely gaseous, similar to Uranus and Neptune.

We're just circling back to this, because, well news. But we have now sifted through the hundreds of suggestions you, our whip-smart audience, put forward on what we should name "Planet Nine."

(In case you haven't heard, scientists have some convincing evidence that somewhere far beyond Neptune, there is a super-Earth disrupting the orbits of some smaller icy bodies.)

In any case, we got ahead of ourselves and decided that "Planet Nine" was a pretty lame name. You all really came through with a list of great names and a discussion on whether we should keep the tradition of naming these bodies after classical mythology.

In my mind, fgeorgeharris ended that argument when he commented: "It seems that so many Greco-Roman mythological names are taken by minor planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, etc., and seeing as the name of our own planet already breaks the 'tradition' anyway, I would suggest that we call this planet Sagan. For obvious reasons."

With that, here are the four of the best suggestions:

-- Janus was suggested many times. Here's how TymmConner explained it: "As it is found at the end of the solar system, thus the beginning of the vast unknown cosmos, it should be named accordingly. The Roman Deity for endings and beginnings is Janus."

-- Celo. BillGoodwin explains: "Latin meaning conceal, heaven, keep secret, be silent, cover, hide, keep back, veil, hush"

-- Proserpina. AndreaBlankiship writes: "The planet name definitely has to remain Roman. You can't break up a set. To that end I suggest Proserpina. She is in the underworld and not seen for great lengths of time, near Pluto, master of the underworld." And Dean Lovett adds: "She was abducted by Pluto (god of the underworld). Her mother's search for her are subject of Roman art and literature."

-- Black Star. User33297 writes: "In honor of David Bowie."

And here is where you vote. We'll be in touch with the winner so we can send them some NPR swag:

Update at 6 p.m. on Jan. 26. 'Black Star' Leads:

Just in case you were wondering, here's how the voting is going. The chart updates automatically: