Monday, June 26, 2006

Mooning for moons

I'm suffering under the indignity of living on the only planet in our solar system with one lousy moon. Yes, I know that Venus and Mercury have no moons, but all the planets that have moons have more than us. I'm always struck with a stab of envy when I see science fiction movies depicting worlds with lots of moons. How cool would that be? (Unless it's that multi-moon planet in "Pitch Black." That wasn't so cool.)

Also, I think it's time we came up with a better name for our moon than, "The Moon." Now that Pluto's satellites have official names ("Nix" and "Hydra"), not only do the mooned planets have more moons than us, but their moons have better names. For a world that used to think it was the center of the universe, this situation is shockingly negligent. Although I suppose that calling it "THE Moon" actually betrays a certain geocentricity of thought.

Of course, it's hard to think of a good name that isn't particular to one's own culture. Which means "Elvis" is right out. Based on the current naming system, though, it seems common to reach back to old mythology from defunct cultures. And since Irish mythology seems underrepresented in moon-naming, I propose the name "Luchta." It even sounds a little like Luna (an unofficial name for the Moon).

I wonder who I should see about my revolutionary proposal...

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