Ring around Uranus

in Sky and Telescope - A Mistaken Case of Ring Around the Collar



... no, clean up your mind! I mean the seventh planet!



Funny, though, when I grew up the seventh planet was pronounced like the element uranium - up until 1986 when the first spacecraft got there. I envision a mass boycott of newscasters who refused to pronounce your-A-nus and demanded the change to YOUR-a-nus. Especially if the word "probe" was anywhere in the script.



See, an on-air giggle fit is a broadcaster's nightmare. The veneer of cool objective professionalism is shattered by a moment of inappropriate silly humanity. Anchorman Dirk Studley at Action Chopper News Channel 62 doesn't want to suddenly transform into Beavis. So a planet with a silly name is too risky.



I had one once, reading a promo about cannibalistic insects. For some reason that I can't recall, the line "popped their heads off" just cracked me up. All you can do is turn off the mic, turn up the background music, and laugh Uranus off.



(So, since it's named for the same Roman god as the planet, why don't we now call the 92nd element YOUR-a-nee-um?)



1986 was also the year Halley's Comet quit being pronounced like Bill Haley. Anyway it's a cool picture of a cold planet.