Ukrainian astronomers name a star "Putin is a dickhead" - Polidicks

[url]http://time.com/2964352/vladimir-putin-huilo-star/[/url] [url]http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/07/ukrainian-astronomers-named-a-star-putin-is-a/373950/[/url] [quote=TheWire]Vladimir Putin may be a powerful and menacing leader here on Earth, but in the cosmos, he isn't getting such kind treatment. [URL="https://www.facebook.com/EuroMaydan/photos/a.523254484437560.1073741828.523004674462541/644694652293542/?type=1&permPage=1"]Ukrainian astronomers along with pro-Ukraine activists have gotten together to name a star "Putin-Huilo!"[/URL] Huilo (sometimes spelled khulio) is a Ukrainian [sp]Poster's note: word's the same in Russian language[/sp] term which translates loosely to a combination of "dickhead," "fucker," and "asshole." So the name of the star translates to either "Putin is a dickhead" or "Putin is a dipshit," depending how you read huilo. The star was adopted through the [URL="http://adoptastar.whitedwarf.org/"]Pale Blue Dot Project[/URL], affiliated with the White Dwarf Research Corporation. Pale Blue Dot allows anyone to adopt a star for just $10, and pick its name. The $10 donation goes to funding the research of astronomers seeking Earth-like planets. "Putin Huilo" actually has a rich Internet history, becoming something between a meme and a slang word. It's origins are as a song, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin_khuilo!#cite_note-2"]possibly written by soccer fans[/URL]. It gained wider attention when Ukrainian protestors sang it during the Maidan protest:[/quote] [quote=Time][URL="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/no-plans-to-rename-star-called-putin-is-a-dckhead/503017.html"]In an interview with the Moscow [I]Times[/I][/URL], the project’s founder says the stellar name, which has become something of a popular saying in Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea, is staying put. “Free speech is now written in the stars,” said Travis Metcalfe, who notes that the astronomers adopted the star well before the meaning of the name came to light. “We have no plans to censor any of these star adoptions.”[/quote] Immature? Yes. Pointless? Yes. FUCKING INCREDIBLE? OH YES IT FUCKING IS.

Space graffiti at its finest

The year is 2882 The Putin is a Dickhead system is currently the capital of the Interstellar Federation, from their capital of No Seriously Fuck Him, they lead the galaxy through peace and war.

So for 10 dollars I can name a star?

Imagine if we discover an alien civilization that developed around that star.

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;45348839]Imagine if we discover an alien civilization that developed around that star.[/QUOTE] just so happens that not only do they all look like putin, but they all fuck eachother with their faces to reproduce

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;45348800]So for 10 dollars I can name a star?[/QUOTE] it's literally comparable to a dude on the street selling rocks

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;45348839]Imagine if we discover an alien civilization that developed around that star.[/QUOTE]The star in question is the same type of star as our own, so might be possible; at least, the star itself is not a barrier to that possibility.

[QUOTE=Kondor;45348873]it's literally comparable to a dude on the street selling rocks[/QUOTE] [IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111996868/2014/stars.JPG[/IMG]

Bioware better put it in their next Mass Effect game

For those people who take pictures in the night sky, could you buy a star, then charge them every time they take pictures of your star?

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away... ...lived the star "Putin is a dickhead."

my sides are in orbit

[QUOTE=Sally;45349076]For those people who take pictures in the night sky, could you buy a star, then charge them every time they take pictures of your star?[/QUOTE] It's not your star, it's... a star. You just named it. Would be fun to actually own a star and pass it down to your descendants, and in a few hundred years someone will own a whole star system to colonize and profit off of thanks to their grand-grand-grand-grand-granddad deciding to fuck about in his time.

[QUOTE=gudman;45349162]It's not your star, it's... a star. You just named it. [/QUOTE] I just bought a star, it says I adopted it. Surely that means i own it or am i wrong?

Reminds me of when in Civ Rev I would find a special tile that the game would allow me to name, sometimes I would rename it to "COUNTRY X SUCKS" or something to that effect. One time I found two that were close to each other so I had that as a first one and near it the other one was just "I AGREE"

[QUOTE=Mad Flying Duck;45349201]I just bought a star, it says I adopted it. Surely that means i own it or am i wrong?[/QUOTE] No, it means you have to raise it into a productive member of society.

[QUOTE=gudman;45349162]It's not your star, it's... a star. You just named it. Would be fun to actually own a star and pass it down to your descendants, and in a few hundred years someone will own a whole star system to colonize and profit off of thanks to their grand-grand-grand-grand-granddad deciding to fuck about in his time.[/QUOTE] Don't they run the risk of it already being dead?

[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;45349430]Don't they run the risk of it already being dead?[/QUOTE] Stars last a while, it takes a good 10+ billion years to snuff out an orange/yellow Main Sequence, and red dwarfs could run for almost a trillion years. The galaxy's only what... 100,000 light-years across? If a star is going to die within 100,000+ years, there'll be enough warning signs that you won't make the investment. It could be a problem if you're dealing with a blue giant or a red supergiant, but even the worst offenders last for 4+ million years before dying out, which (if the warning signs aren't there) means the star will probably be there by the time we can get there, and will [I]continue[/I] to be there for millions of years.

[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;45348839]Imagine if we discover an alien civilization that developed around that star.[/QUOTE] A peaceful race of Dickputinians.

So basically this service says "You can name this star, really!", and when you fork over the cash, you get a certificate, and nothing else at all? Like, it's not recognized by any organization, it's just a completely pointless waste of money? If I just randomly decided that some star was named Earl, it would have about as much significance as this does. Not exactly sensationalist.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;45350798]So basically this service says "You can name this star, really!", and when you fork over the cash, you get a certificate, and nothing else at all? Like, it's not recognized by any organization, it's just a completely pointless waste of money? If I just randomly decided that some star was named Earl, it would have about as much significance as this does. Not exactly sensationalist.[/QUOTE] No it's a great Ukrainian conquest of Russian sciences.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;45350798]So basically this service says "You can name this star, really!", and when you fork over the cash, you get a certificate, and nothing else at all? Like, it's not recognized by any organization, it's just a completely pointless waste of money? If I just randomly decided that some star was named Earl, it would have about as much significance as this does. Not exactly sensationalist.[/QUOTE] Well on a serious note, and to be fair, we can actually afford to name stars bullshit names. There're hundreds of billions of stars that we see, and for every single one of them there're uncountable millions we can't yet observe. So there would be place for Earl, I'm pretty sure. I don't really see much problem recognizing the "bought" names universally, as long as they are at least not too vulgar and as long as it's just individual stars, names for systems and clusters should be reserved for commemorating various great shit.

[QUOTE=gudman;45351285]Well on a serious note, and to be fair, we can actually afford to name stars bullshit names. There're hundreds of billions of stars that we see, and for every single one of them there're uncountable millions we can't yet observe. So there would be place for Earl, I'm pretty sure. I don't really see much problem recognizing the "bought" names universally, as long as they are at least not too vulgar and as long as it's just individual stars, names for systems and clusters should be reserved for commemorating various great shit.[/QUOTE] Well it's kinda neat to be able to name something that could be relevant in thousands of years. If it turns out life can be sustained in said system some people might eventually live there. Is it possible to do this for any star, or are systems where exoplanets were discovered out of bounds?

[QUOTE=_Axel;45351331]Well it's kinda neat to be able to name something that could be relevant in thousands of years. If it turns out life can be sustained in said system some people might eventually live there. Is it possible to do this for any star, or are systems where exoplanets were discovered out of bounds?[/QUOTE] It's possible to do this with any star you like, the thing is that no scientist recognizes that name, the only place this is recognized is the company who's selling the service. It's completely pointless.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;45351377]It's possible to do this with any star you like, the thing is that no scientist recognizes that name, the only place this is recognized is the company who's selling the service. It's completely pointless.[/QUOTE] Oh well then it's just plain shit. And there I thought it would actually be part of the databases.

[QUOTE=Kondor;45348873]it's literally comparable to a dude on the street selling rocks[/QUOTE] Buying rocks from a dude on the street costs a lot more than $10, friend. Oh wait, you meant literal rocks. Carry on.

And what's best: You can't destroy stars with nuclear bombs. So it's gonna stay there, pissing Putin off for the rest of his life.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;45350798]So basically this service says "You can name this star, really!", and when you fork over the cash, you get a certificate, and nothing else at all? Like, it's not recognized by any organization, it's just a completely pointless waste of money? If I just randomly decided that some star was named Earl, it would have about as much significance as this does. Not exactly sensationalist.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.iau.org/public/themes/buying_star_names/[/url] Pretty much, yes.

Imagine a rich guy dropping 10k and naming a cluster of stars after different people who are dickheads.