Petition for NASA to name TOI-1338 b in honor of musician SOPHIE

[AndreasC]

https://www.change.org/p/nasa-nasa-name-toi-1338-in-honor-of-sophie

Copied from the petition text:

Sophie Xeon, known mononymously as SOPHIE, was a highly influential singer, songwriter, and producer who was a great inspiration to the LGBTQIA+ community. Her messages, actions, and music left an insurmountable impression on many LGBTQIA+ individuals. She always pushed a message of individuality and expressing your true self which resonated throughout everything she did.

SOPHIE tragically passed away Saturday, January 30th, 2021 around 4:00 AM EET, in Athens, Greece after an accident while attempting to see the full moon. This event has devastated her fanbase, which had looked up to her for inspiration. A fanbase that took her messages and ran with them, further spreading her influence.

When artist renditions of TOI 1338 b (a circumbinary exoplanet discovered by Wolf Cukier and fellow scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) were featured in the press following the 235th American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, many fans noticed the similarities between the interpretations and the aesthetic sense of SOPHIE’s visual work, specifically the cover for her 2018 album Oil of Every Pearl’s UnInsides.

I am requesting, at the discretion of the incredible scientists who discovered the planet, that TOI 1338 b be named in honor of the great LGBT+ influence, SOPHIE. Her fans would love to pay homage by having her name be remembered in this way and for her influence to continue to flourish for years to come.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Why petition NASA? Why not petition the Commissioner of Major League baseball?

 

[AndreasC]

Why petition NASA? Why not petition the Commissioner of Major League baseball?

We can petition him too!

Yeah I know the way it's framed is kinda dumb but at least that way the idea may get some exposure.

 

[PeroK]

We can petition him too!

Yeah I know the way it's framed is kinda dumb but at least that way the idea may get some exposure.

Why name a planet after a singer? Surely there will be plenty of accolades from the world of entertainment? There is so little recognition for scientists generally, that this feels like a statement that science is worth little compared to the world of pop music.

Sorry, I would take this as a sign that the world has its priorities all wrong.

 

[AndreasC]

Why name a planet after a singer? Surely there will be plenty of acolades from the world of entertainment? There is so little recognition for scientists generally, that this feels like a statement that science is worth little compared to the world of pop music.

Sorry, I would take this as a sign that the world has its priorities all wrong.

Ι wouldn't be that cynical. I guess someone can argue that exoplanets are more important than asteroids, but there are plenty of asteroids named after various random scientists, as well as pop personalities etc. There actually are exoplanets named after types of trees or characters from semi-obscure books. I guess if you don't know who SOPHIE is and don't have much connection to her music or the subculture surrounding it, I can't really convince you that it's a big deal. Well, it's not a big deal but it would be a nice thing to happen, especially considering the circumstances of her death.

Somewhat ironically, SOPHIE is actually one of the more underappreciated pop musicians. She is important for a certain demographic, but also she has produced a number of songs for more mainstream artists and she is especially well appreciated among musicians since her music is very original and a very bold departure from the usual in her genre, which is part of why she is not one of the best known artists. Like it or not (and you probably won't if you listen to it lol) it's actually novel and important. There are artists like that in every era, people whose music influences the course of the genre but is too weird or bold to become as popular as everything else. For instance the Velvet Underground comes to mind for music in the 60s. So this is not exactly a case of "I want to name this planet after Kim Kardashian" or something.

Lastly, there's no shortage of astronomical bodies in need of a nickname. So there is nothing stopping us from doing both!

 

[BillTre]

Why name a planet after a singer? Surely there will be plenty of acolades from the world of entertainment? There is so little recognition for scientists generally, that this feels like a statement that science is worth little compared to the world of pop music.

Sounds like a new form of cultural mis-appropriation!
Science is once again being taken advantage of!
When will it ever end?

 

[AndreasC]

Sounds like a new form of cultural mis-appropriation!
Science is once again being taken advantage of!
When will it ever end?

I'm not sure how this is science being "taken advantage of" or cultural appropriation. I don't see this hurting anything, it's simply a symbolic gesture. And cultural appropriation isn't applicable here.

 

[BillTre]

I'm not sure how this is science being "taken advantage of" or cultural appropriation. I don't see this hurting anything, it's simply a symbolic gesture. And cultural appropriation isn't applicable here.

Its a joke. Don't take it too seriously.

 

[AndreasC]

Its a joke. Don't take it too seriously.

Ah alright, I'm sorry, irony doesn't always translate well in the internet!

 

[Klystron]

Ah alright, I'm sorry, irony doesn't always translate well in the internet!

True. I gave up sarcasm after several disastrous attempts at 'reverse sarcasm', popular among teens.

 

[BillTre]

I forgot to use an emoji

 

[berkeman]

Its a joke. Don't take it too seriously.

Ah alright, I'm sorry, irony doesn't always translate well in the internet!

Yeah, she is already getting a Darwin award. We should not pile on too many extra honors, IMO...

 

[PeroK]

Ι wouldn't be that cynical.

I wasn't being cynical. If I was being cynical, I would say something like.

Sophie's supporters realize that her music alone won't stand the test of time - that it's stylised and vacuous and will soon be forgotten. It's necessary, therefore, to attach her name to something more permanent in a vain attempt to immortalise someone whom they wish to believe is special, but who is ultimately just another ordinary human being, with no special talents to distinguish her from the other 7.7 billion souls on this planet.

And her contribution to science? That she has an album cover that looks a bit like a photo of a recently discovered exoplanet.

Now that would be cynical.

 

[AndreasC]

I wasn't being cynical. If I was being cynical, I would say something like.

Sophie's supporters realize that her music alone won't stand the test of time - that it's stylised and vacuous and will soon be forgotten. It's necessary, therefore, to attach her name to something more permanent in a vain attempt to immortalise someone whom they wish to believe is special, but who is ultimately just another ordinary human being, with no special talents to distinguish her from the other 7.7 billion souls on this planet.

And her contribution to science? That she has an album cover that looks a bit like a photo of a recently discovered exoplanet.

Now that would be cynical.

It would also be wrong.

 

[PeroK]

It would also be wrong.

Perhaps so. But, look at it this way. If I discovered a new planet, I might want to name it after my favourite musician; not yours.

 

[AndreasC]

Perhaps so. But, look at it this way. If I discovered a new planet, I might want to name it after my favourite musician; not yours.

Then you could do a petition.

 

[PeroK]

Then you could do a petition.

You miss the point. If you discover a planet or a comet or something, you would have a case to name it yourself. You wouldn't have to petition someone else to name their discovery according to your wishes.

 

[AndreasC]

You miss the point. If you discover a planet or a comet or something, you would have a case to name it yourself. You wouldn't have to petition someone else to name their discovery according to your wishes.

I mean, so far no one named that discovery, same with most other exoplanets and asteroids, so...

 

[Vanadium 50]

I guess someone can argue that exoplanets are more important than asteroids, but there are plenty of asteroids named after various random scientists, as well as pop personalities etc.

There are also a great many more of them.

By deciding that an asteroid isn't good enough, and the other exoplanets aren't good enough and it has to be this one (because an artist's conception of the planet is kind of pastel-y like one of her album covers), the odds of success are lowered. By addressing the petition to the wrong people (NASA), the odds are lowered further.

 

[AndreasC]

There are also a great many more of them

They're still ever growing though.

By deciding that an asteroid isn't good enough

I don't think this mentions an exoplanet because an asteroid is not good enough. I don't think people would mind if it was an asteroid instead of an exoplanet.

It could be any other exoplanet, one is not much better than the other, but eh, this has to be about something so why not this one. It's not terribly important. You're digging too much into it.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You're digging too much into it.

I'm reading the request as written. You might be happy with the alternatives. That doesn't mean everybody is. I can only go by what was written. And I stand by my statement that the petition authors made some mistakes.

 

[AndreasC]

I'm reading the request as written. You might be happy with the alternatives. That doesn't mean everybody is. I can only go by what was written. And I stand by my statement that the petition authors made some mistakes.

Sure, I agree they made some mistakes, but petitions aren't terribly important. They just give an idea some extra exposure, and gauge interest. So if people are interested, they can sign it, and maybe it will take some more exposure that way! If not, that's alright, it's not that important.