With Winter Solstice officially arriving at 4:44 a.m. next Wednesday morning, days are at their shortest and the nights are long, meaning it’s not too hard to catch bright, shiny things in the sky both while leaving for work and on your way back home.
Jupiter, Venus, Spica. Capella, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse. Gemini, Ursa Major. Who names these things? Why not Fred, Beatrice and Mike?
The International Astronomical Union, based in Paris, is the only officially recognized body that can name stuff in the sky. If you want something named, that’s who you make your case to. Oh, there are companies (eg. Star Name Registry) that, especially at Christmas, will happily sell you part of a planet or a whole star, but save your cash. It’s the IAU or nothing.
By IAU rules, all the Planet names default to history, essentially the Greco-Roman names used over the centuries. On the Moon, it’s all about famous scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and explorers. NASA uses unofficial names for features on Mars for convenience until the IAU catches up. Other space-faring countries also name their probes’ discoveries as they go, but in the end, the IAU will still have the final say.
Comets are named for the discoverer, and as for asteroids, you cannot have the IAU name one after you, but you can suggest someone you think has the merit. For example, each of the Beatles has an asteroid named after them.
Only a few hundred of the 10,000 or so visible stars have been named (other than with numbers); those keep the traditional Arabic or Latin designations. After that, they’re available, but you still have to make your case as to why your lifetime body of work, or that of your friend, deserves it. If you wish to do so, the link to the proper department of the IAU is www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/209/ . My last name is spelled with a ‘Z’, not an ‘S’.
The newest frontier of exploration is the search for planets around other stars, referred to as ‘exoplanets’. In an unprecedented move for a normally stuffy old group, the IAU has formed the Committee for the Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites. The purpose is to consider general public submissions for newly found exoplanets, and for the stars they orbit, when those lack a name as well.
In a contest held last year, 14 stars and 31 exoplanet names submitted by the public were accepted by the IAU. The names will now be added to the global database of astronomical objects, and will officially have that name for all time. The first competition is over, but there will be more, so there’s hope for naming something after your best friend after all, or any other name you wish to put forward. Again, that’s a ‘Z’, not an ‘S’.)
Happy Holidays, and best of luck with the last of those gift purchases. Keep in mind that those acres on Mars are seldom worth what you pay for them.
