4 ms·

Am I the only one who's mildly annoyed by the 9th planet being referred to as Planet X? Seems like "Planet Ix" (same pronunciation!) would have been a better n

by smlacy 5y ago

Am I the only one who's mildly annoyed by the 9th planet being referred to as Planet X? Seems like "Planet Ix" (same pronunciation!) would have been a better name?

rich_sasha 5y ago
I think it's a semi-deliberate pun. It was Planet 10 when people started looking for it. Then it would be "Planet 9", which is confusing. So they called it then "Planet X" as in 'ex', nerdily harking back to the good old days when Pluto was still a planet.
lainga 5y ago
The designation was not a Roman numeral but Lowell's designation for "unknown". It would have been the 9th planet if discovered, at the time Lowell coined it, anyway
- usefulcat 5y ago
  Pluto was still considered a planet in the eighties, so at that point an additional planet (if discovered) would have been the 10th planet.
  - Asraelite 5y ago
    Pluto was discovered in 1930. The term was coined decades before that.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
cheaprentalyeti 5y ago
I just bent space from Ix. Many new machines there.
kjs3 5y ago
The theory was proposed and it was anointed 'Planet X' when Pluto was the 9th planet, with X as the Roman numeral for 10. Now it's a play on 'X' being something unknown. Nothing to get annoyed about.