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>| Exoplanet Names 2

Title text: I'm going to drive this Netherlands joke so far into the ground they'll have to build levees around it to keep the sea out.

Explanation [ edit ]

This comic is a continuation of 1253: Exoplanet Names, and was published the day after NASA announced the discovery of a number of planets, including a planet called a cousin to Earth, Kepler-452b. Black Hat proposes naming it Pluto, to commemorate the flyby of the dwarf planet of that name by NASA's New Horizons earlier the same month. He admits this alternative to end the discussion about the status of Pluto, which is subject to debate among both scientists and laypeople over whether-or-not it should be considered a planet. Pluto was considered a planet for a long period of time until, in 2005, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) created a new definition for the word 'planet' designed to exclude Pluto and similar objects, resulting in much debate (The IAU is the organization that takes responsibility for naming celestial bodies like planets, stars, and much more).

It may appear that, with Black Hat's suggestion, the answer to the question "is Pluto a planet?" will therefore always be "yes", regardless of the status of the Pluto in our Solar System according to the IAU. However the same IAU official definition that excludes Pluto also states that a 'planet' has to orbit our sun, so according to the IAU, nothing in this comic is a planet (the IAU definition only allows them to be exoplanets, which, like dwarf planets, are not planets). Hence, the debate indeed becomes 'a little more confusing'. This is in line with Black Hat's characterisation as a mischief-maker.

The title text is referring to the planet name entry Netherlands VI for the star EPIC 201912552. Randall thus continues his references to the Dutch people taking over the world and then the universe after the earth's oceans has been drained and transported to Mars. This happens in two consecutive What if?'s, Drain the Oceans and Drain the Oceans: Part II, was referenced in Dropping a Mountain, and was referenced again the week before this comic in 1551: Pluto. Due to a drain in the Earth's ocean the Netherlands does not have to worry about getting flooded anymore and since it now does not have to use all its resources preventing floods, it can use these to conquer the world (including Antarctica becoming South Netherlands). Then it takes on Mars (which becomes New Netherlands), and then a section of Pluto (again calling it New Netherlands). There is also a possible reference to 1519: Venus, but that comic has no direct relation to the conquests of the Dutch people like in the other three references. It should be mentioned, that New Netherland was actually a Dutch colony with New York City, formerly known as New Amsterdam, as its capital. So the name "New Netherlands" is "historically correct", while "Netherlands VI" isn't.

In the title text Randall mentioned that he will continue with this Netherlands joke driving it so far into the ground, (i.e. way beyond the point where it stops being funny), that they (the Dutch people) will have to build levees (or dykes) around it to keep the sea out - thus making it funny again... By forcing the Dutchmen to build new levees for this reason, the whole issue with their conquest of the world will be over before it happens.

Table [ edit ]

This table explains each entry in the comic table. The "Status" column refers to the comic 1253: Exoplanet Names, and indicates if the entry was already in that version (Old), if it is an addition since then (New) or if the entry has been updated (Update).

Transcript [ edit ]

[Black Hat points with a stick at a slide showing an image of a planet with unknown features marked by questions marks.] Kepler-452b

Black Hat: NASA has announced the discovery of a (super-)Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. Black Hat: I suggest we name this planet "Pluto", both to celebrate the great work by the New Horizons team, and to make the stupid "Is Pluto a planet" debate a little more confusing

While we wait to hear from the IAU, here's a revised and updated list of planet name suggestions (see xkcd.com/1253) New or updated entries in red

[The table is in three separate columns. There is a small arrow pointing at the second column, named "Planet", indicating the planet's name corresponding to the star at the first row. The third column shows the planet name suggestions.]

Star Planet Suggested Name Gliese 667 b Space Planet c PILF d A Star e e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;-- f Blogosphere g Blogodrome h Earth Tau Ceti b Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B c Giant Dog Planet d Tiny Dog Planet e Phil Plainet f Unicode Snowman Gliese 832 b Asshole Jupiter c Waterworld starring Kevin Costner Gliese 581 b Waist-deep Cats c Planet #14 d Ballderaan e Eternia Prime f Taupe Mars g Jelly-Filled Planet Epsilon Eridani b Skydot c Laser Noises Gliese 176 b Pandora c Pantera Kepler-61 b GoldenPalace.com Groombridge 34A b Hot Mess Kepler-442 b Seas of Toothpaste Gliese-442 b This one weird planet EPIC-201367065 b Sulawesi c Huge Soccer Ball d Geodude Kepler-296 b Kerbal Space Planet c A$aplanet d Jurassic World e This Land f Springfield HR 7722 b Betelgeuse c Beetlejuice EPIC 201912552 b Netherlands VI Gliese 3293 b Antispit c Google Earth d Planet of the Apes (disambiguation) Kepler-283 b ˈjʊərənəs c jʊˈreɪnəs Upsilon Andromedae b Fourthmeal c Stampy d Moonchild e Ham Sphere HD 20794 b Cosmic Sands c Legoland d Planet with Arms HD 85512 b Lax Morality HD 40307 b Good Planet c Problemland d Slickle e Spare Parts f New Jersey VI g How Do I Join the IAU Gliese 163 b Neil Tyson's Mustache c [email protected] d Hair-Covered Planet Pi Mensae b Moon Holder HD 189733 b Permadeath Kepler-22 b Blue Ivy KOI-2474 b Store-Brand Earth Kepler-437 b Unicorn Thresher KOI-2418 b Spherical Discworld Kepler-438 b Emergency Backup Earth KOI-3010 b Feeeoooooooop Kepler-442 b Liz 82 Eridani b Horsemeat Surface c The Moon d Constant Saxophones HD 102365 b Little Big Planet Gliese 180 b Dune c Arrakis Fomalhaut b Swarm of Bees Kepler-62 b Sporty c Baby d Scary e Ginger f Posh HD 69830 b Planet.xxx c Novella d Sexoplanet Gliese 682 b Verdant Hellscape c Unsubscribe Kepler-452 b Pluto

Trivia [ edit ]

The IPA character for stress is a vertical line ˈ. Randall uses a slanted line similar to acute accent ´ or prime ′.

There were three errors in the original version of this comic. These were corrected later the same day. The three errors were: Waterworld starring Kevin Kostner (Kostner instead of Costner) Upsilon Andromidae (Andromidae instead of Andromedae) Formalhaut (Formalhaut instead of Fomalhaut)

Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's viewable in the HTML-source or here: https://xkcd.com/1555/info.0.json. The text is: "Full explanation & dissection & transcription available http:



www.explainxkcd.com

wiki

index.php

1555".

A Unicode snowman is also referenced in Randall's book What If, where it is keymapped to a laptop.

Randall has also poked fun at the Netherlands in Drain the Oceans, where the Netherlands, no longer worrying about a cataclysmic flood, take over the world, and in Drain the Oceans: Part II, where the Netherlands use the portal to colonize Mars. See the https://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/ for more details.



