14 ms·

Why 'Goblin', though? There's no explanation in the article, nor on the wikipedia page, and I can't imagine an explanation by myself.

• KineticLensman 8y ago
  > Named 2015 TG387 and nicknamed The Goblin I also wondered if it was representative of a class of Goblin objects. I guess the discoverers just liked 'goblin' as a term for something that stays in the dark.
  • theandrewbailey 8y ago
    For some reason, I wondered if this object was made of cobalt (goblin ore).
    • deadmetheny 8y ago
      I thought Goblinite was an ore of iron.
• billysielu 8y ago
  It's because the goblins live there, duh :)
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  • 0xdeadbeefbabe 8y ago
    Gollems probably live there too.
• deleted 8y ago
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• insickness 8y ago
  Because it's small and exists in darkness in the outer realms. Also, it's just great marketing. Who the hell wouldn't want to read about a goblin planet? Made me click on the link.
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
• YeGoblynQueenne 8y ago
  It's so future objects of the same class can be called "goblinoids".
• the_other 8y ago
  Also, it's easy to intuit it as less massive than a "dwarf" planet.
• deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
• SilasX 8y ago
  I assumed it was an extension of the "dwarf planet" metaphor.
• charliesharding 8y ago
  It has nothing to do with borderline clickbait - I know people sure didn't click on this link for the faint hope of a fanciful world of hunched over creatures shuffling around doing Goblin things. So yeah, now that we know that definitely isn't the case, it should help to narrow it down
• eb0la 8y ago
  Why "The Goblin"? Because the TG in the name of the object - 2015 TG387. It's interesting to see how new objects are named: https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/info/OldDesDoc.html https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/info/OldDesDoc.html So... every year in August astronomers discover a lot of "The Goblins ;-)".
• Tiktaalik 8y ago
  Presumably there is evidence that goblins live there