tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 18 07:27:30 2008
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Re: Klingon WOTD: yuQHom (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Tuesday, March 18, 2008.
>
>Klingon word: yuQHom
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: planetoid
Never used in canon.
Also "dwarf planet" or "minor planet"? In August 2006 the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) formally defined the criteria for a planet
{yuQ}: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient
mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes
a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its
orbit." This new definition excludes Pluto because it's eccentric orbit
overlaps with Neptune's. Instead, it will be reclassified in a new
category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor
planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects
that orbit the sun-"small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to
numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites. [Associated
Press, 8/25/06]
Trek trivia:
Gamma II is an uninhabited planetoid with an automated Federation
communications and astrogation station. (TOS "The Gamesters of Triskelion")
Zefram Cochrane survived on the Companion's unnamed planetoid in the Gamma
Canaris region. (TOS "Metamorphosis")
Cultural notes:
*{ghIlghameS yuQHom} the Gilgamesh planetoid (_ghIlghameS: A Klingon
Translation_ by Roger Cheesbro [DloraH], 2000)
Related nouns:
{qo'} world; {ghopDap} asteroid; {lIy} comet; {SIbDoH} satellite; {maS}
moon; {ngeHbej} cosmos.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons