Dwarf planet named after Chinese god Gonggong

The largest unnamed dwarf planet in the solar system has recently been named after the Chinese water god Gonggong by the International Astronomical Union.

This is the first and only dwarf planet in the solar system that has a Chinese name, according to the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.

Gou Lijun, a researcher at the observatory, said the naming is an important event that will help Chinese astronomy gain global attention, as most dwarf planets are named after Greek and Roman mythical figures.

"It will not only help promote a more international understanding of Chinese culture, including ancient myths, but also encourage more Chinese astronomers and stargazers to pay attention to the Gonggong planet," Gou said.

The official naming was the result of an online vote in 2019 launched by one of its discoverers.

The three candidates were Gonggong, Germanic winter goddess Holle and Norse god Vili.

All are mythological characters related to water, ice, snow and the color red.

In the end, the Chinese water god, with red hair, the head of a human and the body of a snake, won the competition, and its name was submitted to the IAU.

In late February, the Minor Planet Center of the IAU accepted the name and updated its catalog.

Gonggong is the fifth-largest dwarf planet detected in the solar system so far. It is too far away from Earth to be seen in the sky at night with the naked eye.

The closest distance between Gonggong and the sun is 33 astronomical units, and the farthest is 101 AU.

One AU is the distance from the sun to Earth, almost 150 million kilometers.

Scientists estimated the planet has a diameter of 1,230 km, 35 percent of the moon's diameter, and its weight is only 2.4 percent that of the moon. It rotates very slowly, with a period of 44.8 hours.

In Chinese mythology, Gonggong was a short-tempered god who always created chaos, leading to floods and landslides.

The planet's satellite has been named after Xiangliu, a subordinate of Gonggong.

Xinhua