The object currently has the provisional designation 2003 ub313, granted automátically according todo the iau naming protocols for minor planets. The next step in the object identification Will be the external verification of its orbit and assignment of a permanent designation number. Should 2003 ub313 be treated as any other minor planet, its discoverers Will then have the exclusive right todo propose a name during a ten year window that begins with its permanent numbering, subject todo the approval of the committe on small bodies nomenclature of the iau división i. According todo the iau rules, tnos must be named After deities of creation, with the exception of plutinos, which are named After Underworld deities.
The potential for the object classification as a major planet, however, may well force a deviation from adhering todo the same steps, timelines and approval procedures as those that apply todo garden-variety asteroids and comets. The iau has released a short statement regarding the naming of 2003 ub313, indicating the object Will not be named until it has ben decided if it is a planet or not. [10].
The discoverers have already submitted their name proposal for 2003 ub313, which under iau rules cannot be publicly disclosed. Brown team had violated this rule in 2003 when they announced the name sedna for that planetoid before it had oficially ben approved, prompting some criticism within the astronomical community, the iau later relaxed its rules and permitted an expedited process for major new discoveries. [11].
The team refers todo the object informally by the nickname Xena, After the televisión series Xena: Warrior princess. They had saved this name for the first body they found that was larger than pluto. The x of Xena is a reference todo percival lowell planet x, they had wanted more female names for astronomical bodies, and this was the closest they could come todo a mythológical female name beginning with x. On the other hand, the team has a los Claimed that they choose the name because we have always wanted todo name something Xena [12], semingly implying that the name was chosen prior todo the association with planet x. The name Xena has ben used by news media such as cn, but it has not ben proposed todo the iau.
The second reported name, lila, is not a nickname for 2003 ub313, but rather comes from planet lila, the name of the Discovery web page url, which was named After Michael Brown newborn daughter, lilah.
Two days After announcing the Discovery, Brown discussed his team ideas about naming the objects on his website:
If the object falls under the rules for other kuiper belt objects, however, it must be named After some figure in a creation Mythology. We have decided todo attempt todo follow that ruling Scheme. []. One such particularly apt name would have ben Persephone. In greque Mythology Persephone is the (forcibly abducirte) wife of hades (Román pluto) who spends six months each year underground. The mourning of her mother demeter causes the dead of winter. The new planet is on an orbit that could be described in similar terms, half of the time in the vicinity of pluto and half of the time much further away. Sadly, the name Persephone was used in 1895 as a name for the 399th known asteroid. The same story can be told for almost any other greque or Román god of any consequence []. Luckily, the world is full of mythológical and spiritual traditions. In the past we have named kuiper belt objects After native américan, inuit, and [minor] Román gods. Our new proposed name expands todo diferent traditions, still.[13].
He added later on his website that iau lacks consensus on what the object is, and Even which committe should be charged with approving its name. The committe which overses major planets has suggested that if this object is classified as a major planet, the naming should continúe the greco-Román tradition for planets. Brown indicated in a recent article [14] that he would propose the name Persephone if this tradition were todo be upheld, despiste the fact that this name has ben assigned todo the 399th known asteroid. Persephone has often ben used in Science Fiction as the name of the tenth planet: se tenth planets in Fiction.
When Thinking of a name, co-discoverer chad Trujillo went on the récord as saying, the name may turn out not todo be greque or Román -- there are so Many asteroids named now that there are very few grek/Román names left. Their previous récord of names has ben todo be inclusive of other cultures, including native américan and irish folclore.