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“Mysterious Nature article about the/a ‘Tasmanian devil’ space explosion baffles readers by failing to explain why it/they is/are called ‘Tasmanian devil/s’” H

“Mysterious Nature article about the/a ‘Tasmanian devil’ space explosion baffles readers by failing to explain why it/they is/are called ‘Tasmanian devil/s’” Hypothesis 1: So named because of rapid spin combined with erratic very-high-energy bursts reminiscent of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character. However, “devil” isn’t capitalized, so… Hypothesis 2: Astronomers who study these so-called LFBOTs have been naming them after animals — cow, koala, finch, camel. Next one? Tasmanian devil. Why not? Because it wasn’t why. According to the Syndey Morning Herald, it’s because the last three letters of its catalog designation are “tsd”. https://amp.smh.com.au/national/a-galactic-war-of-aliens-the-colossal-tassie-devil-exploding-in-space-20231115-p5ek3o.html https://amp.smh.com.au/national/a-galactic-war-of-aliens-the... Pfft.

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kijin 3y ago
It looks like the meme began when the first one got the catalog designation "cow". The next one got "kwla", so it's called koala. Ancient Greeks and Chinese alike looked at the sky and saw animals in the constellations, so why not modern astronomers?
- Kaibeezy 3y ago
  Ah. So, astronomers discovered these amazing extreme objects in deep space, named them a dry string of alphanumeric, and then, starstruck by the last few random (are they random?) letters, gazed in awe and wonder at those and saw… words. Pfffft. See also: UK Private Number Plate Spotters Facebook group - https://m.facebook.com/groups/1617135635067116/ https://m.facebook.com/groups/1617135635067116/