Oh NASA, you sweet summer child. By now, America’s space agency should know better than to announce a discovery as exciting as the seven exoplanets they discovered orbiting around the TRAPPIST-1 star, and not give those planets catchy names that aren’t up for debate. Alas, those planets currently have names such as TRAPPIST-1b, TRAPPIST-1c, and TRAPPIST-1d etc. etc., and the internet has taken it upon itself to take a shot at giving them new names.
Unfortunately for NASA (and the TRAPPIST-1 planets), the Twitter-faring public has already shown they probably aren’t the most reliable source for a balanced, serious naming assignment.
Our current top 4 #NameOurShip suggestions. Have you voted yet? https://t.co/Vv5Or05r9l pic.twitter.com/Uf4u1XyHYf
— NERC (@NERCscience) March 18, 2016
Unlike the Boaty McBoatface debacle, this isn’t a straight-up public vote – Think of it as more of a suggestion box….a suggestion box that Twitter has already flooded with suggestions from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Unsurprisingly, many suggestions referenced popular culture, with Harry Potter references seeming to win the day.
stone
chamber
prisoner
goblet
order
prince
hallows #7NamesFor7NewPlanets— lottie (@pottersnewt) February 24, 2017
Tom Riddle’s Diary
Marvolo’s Ring
Slytherin’s Locket
Hufflepuff’s Cup
Ravenclaw’s Diadem
Nagini
Harry Potter#7NamesFor7NewPlanets— Alex (@the_alexb00k) February 24, 2017
STARK
LANNISTER
BARATHEON
TARGARYEN
TULLY
GREYJOY
TYRELL#7NamesFor7NewPlanets— KΔRMΔ (@smile_always_96) February 26, 2017
The Fast and the Furious
2 Fast 2 Furious
Tokyo Drift
Fast & Furious
Fast 5
Fast & Furious 6
Furious 7— Jordan Freiman (@JordanFreiman) February 24, 2017
Equally unsurprising is the fact that there were more than a few suggestions that got political, touching on an array of hot-button issues.
#7NamesFor7NewPlanets
Far from Trump1
Far from Trump2
Far from Trump3
Far from Trump4
Far from Trump5
Far from Trump6
Far from Trump7— Mike Pons (@mikepons) February 24, 2017
#7NamesFor7NewPlanets
Flint
Still
Doesn’t
Have
Safe
Drinking
Water— Heather (@pinklady_ktown) February 24, 2017
But let’s face it, this is really just a framework for creating some grade-a memes.
Hey
Batter
Batter
Batter
Batter
Sa-WING
Batter#7NamesFor7NewPlanets pic.twitter.com/3IGAmw4kdh— CW (@Carpe_Latte) February 24, 2017
And some of the suggestions were actually pretty good.
#7NamesFor7NewPlanets Scobee, Smith, McNair, Onizuka, Resnik, Jarvis, and McAuliffe pic.twitter.com/lVCkeLVwZ7
— Joseph Grohman (@joeygrohman) February 24, 2017
But, have we ever stopped to think about what the planets themselves think?
#7NamesFor7NewPlanets
Stay
Off
My
Planet
You
Ruddy
Humans— ♒ Lazy Dictator ♒ (@LazyDictator) February 24, 2017
