Aug
19th
2015
Name That Planet! · 3:32pm Aug 19th, 2015
The IAU Naming Contest is underway! People can vote here.
One of the interesting things: a lot of emphasis on Japanese names, and I suspect that's mainly because Japanese schools were heavily involved, while other nations...not so much. As a result, the names are skewed towards what a Japanese kid would think.
That being said, some of the names (and naming conventions) are fascinating. My favorite so far has been the Cervantes system (possible name for the mu Arae system) and the Verne system (also possible for mu Arae) and some others.
But seriously, I got to the point that by the third round of names, I was picking pretty much anything other than Japanese.
That is quite possibly the most annoying CAPTCHA system I've ever seen, and the main voting page takes up way more vertical space than it needs to.
Top marks for the suggestion of the Rock 'n Roll star with planets Rocky, Andy, and Rollie.
3331424
Because it's the International Union of Astronomers, not Web Designers.
3331427
I guarantee they hired someone to create the site, and the CAPTCHA system is obviously third-party. There are no excuses.
3331440
The CAPTCHA system is one supplied by Google and meant to eventually replace ReCAPTCHA, which is now easy to defeat. Blame El Goog for that one.
What's this about a new planet or star being named?
3331501 Over twenty of them.
3331464
Looked into it, apparently the bit I'm complaining about (selecting matching images) is the "mobile friendly" version of the new CAPTCHA API. I don't like it.
> says the guy who may be working for Google this time next month