As exciting as the existence of a potentially habitable planet outside of our solar system may be, its official designation, Kepler-22b, leaves a little something to be desired. It lacks ... pizzazz. However, one Dragon Ball fan hopes to change that.

Lou Earley of Iowa this week launched a Change.org petition for the International Astronomical Union to change the planet's name from Kepler-22b to Namek, the home world of Piccolo in Akira Toriyama's hit Dragon Ball manga and anime franchises. He notes that the two planets even bear a certain resemblance to each other.

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He's not alone, either, as the petition has drawn 64,492 supporters in just three days. Why Earley waited four years to start his campaign isn't clear (NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-22b in December 2011), but what's important is that he's making up for lost time.

Let's just hope Kepler-22b fares better than the original Namek, which was destroyed by Frieza.





(via Rocket News24)