Kalistan

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Kalistani Astronomers welcome Nadiya to the Solar System
"Nadiya's recent discoveries add to human knowledge," said Scientists
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
November 1, 5727


Kalistani 1st grade Science text book diagram of solar system, showing Kalistan's long standing names for the Planets

Kalistani astronomers working closely with both the University of Suldanor and ISCA said the news of planetary discovery from Nadiya is welcomed. "When we first read of the new discoveries in Nadiya of additional planets, we were immediately very excited," said noted astronomer Bradley Howard of the University of Suldanor, who runs the Griffin Observatory in the hills above Sulari. "We had our grad assistants take the data and compare it to our own, and they very quickly discovered that the Nadiyan discoveries were actually just the planets that everyone has known about for many many centuries. These planets, while common place and not often a source of news, given their long history of study and understanding more than 3000 years ago, have nonetheless been the source of philosophical and scientific wonder, poetic verse and science fiction movies and television plots. Some would even say that their observation by primitive man led us to begin wondering about the universe and our place in it."

Rather than dismiss the Nadiyan discoveries, Howard said it was encouraging. "I think it spurs a discussion about naming conventions and also reinvigorates a discussion about possible planetary exploration. That discussion has been moribund for centuries as people, thinking space to be mundane, and counting the costs of long range exploration to be too high, more or less abandoned the idea of space exploration as being a possibility. We do not have the technology right now to send manned space missions to, say the gas giant Nublada (which the Nadiyans are now referring to as Parnum) let alone beyond, but there is nothing preventing us from imagining travel to Ares, and certainly returning to Luna after last visiting there long long ago. The enthusiasm that Nadiya is showing for space is almost a rediscovery of sorts, both of our nearest neighbors, as well as deeper space objects and leads us to want to hold off on trying to calculate the size of the universe by returning closer scrutiny to celestial bodies closer to Terra."

Howard said he would ideally like to see a more universalized naming convention. "Kalistan has our names for those planets," he said. "We refer to the planet the Nadiyans call 'Paparuda' as Evenstar, because it resembles a bright star which is out most evenings or mornings, depending on its location in its own cycle around the Sun. We call Nadiya's Parnum, which they named after a foreign and ancient god of lightning 'Nublada' because both our terrestrial and space telescopes, it is covered in clouds. These are just names, of course. We all pretty much agree that we live on a planet called Terra, our natural satellite is called Luna, or the Moon (one is Selucian, one is Dundorfian, its the same thing), our sun is called Sol, and the red planet is Ares. After that, each nation has sort of adopted their own thing. And now Nadiya has joined the rest of us in doing this too. But perhaps we should sit down to determine if we can come to a consensus on naming these objects so that when I am talking to a colleague with the NSA, we both know what we are both talking about."

Howard said most planetary names come from either Egelian or Selucian in Kalistan. "We received our astrological knowledge from the Selucians perhaps 4000 years ago. The Kemokians and ancient Kalii people had their own names for things, and their influence is in the first two planets whose ancient names were translated into Vrassan: Quicksilver, which is fast and unpredictable, and Evenstar which is ever present, reliable, bright and beautiful, For Terra, Luna and Ares, we adopted the Selucian names and then for the first two gas giants, we took the Seluco-Egellian names from the period where Egelian was developing in the region: Nublada is Cloudy and Anillo literally means Ring. When the outer planets were discovered following the development of optics in the 17th, 18th 19th and 20th centuries, we maintained the Egelian naming traditions: Frio is Cold, Lejos is Far, Helada is Icy and Portera is the Gatekeeper. There has been some debate of the last two being real planets, but in Kalistan, they are accepted."

Howard even said that the name of the second planet, was even applied to the formal Style of the Empress of Ananto and Kalistan. "Her Imperial Majesty is named Evenstar as an honorific after the constancy and beauty of her planetary namesake. This is a blessing first applied to Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mary I Ananto, and was added as a title by the National Assembly to represent the continuation of Mary's Glittering Empire. The honorific was included in the formal style for Empress Jennifer I Ananto, and will be retained by every female monarch henceforth as a legacy of the Glittering Empire." Male descendants of Mary have their own celestial honorific, which is Arcturous, which is the fourth brightest star in the night sky, is a well known survey star, and can be found by following the arc of the great Bear.

"If Nadiya is interested in entering a naming convention, we would certainly welcome the opportunity to come to some mutual agreement," said Howard. "It would be beneficial for the scientific community to have common names, even if we do end up keeping local names within our own nations."

@TheRepublic