By now, you’ve probably heard that astronomers have discovered a tenth planet in our solar system, lurking out beyond Pluto, 9 billion miles from the sun. But did you know what astronomers are considering naming it? From today’s New York Times:

Informally, the astronomers have been calling it Xena after the television series about a Greek warrior princess, which was popular when the astronomers began their systematic sweep of the sky in 2000. “Because we always wanted to name something Xena,” Dr. Brown said.

Awesome. The name “Xena” is, of course, only provisional, since the name has to be approved by the International Astronomical Union. But I love the idea of naming planets after major pop-culture entities. It’s kind of like the way neuroscientists have a penchant for naming neurotransmitters after video-game characters.