The Naming of Exoplanets
Last September when I was in Oslo, I sat next to Thierry Montmerle at the banquet hosted by the Norwegian Science Academy. He was the general secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) which had just announced the NameExoWorlds contest to crowd-source names for 20 to 30 exoplanets. So we got talking about this contest.
In the past, the naming of planets and planetary satellites fell to Western scientists — the names of heavenly bodies reflect that. Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Charon and so are all names from Greek or Roman Mythology. But our telescopes are reaching further out into the cosmos and more exoplanets are being discovered in this new century, so it is perhaps time for more of humankind to participate in the naming of these heavenly bodies. The newly-discovered exoplanets have formal non-evocative names such as OGLE-05-390L b, HD 69830 d, and so on.
The IAU wants astronomy clubs and non-profit organizations from around the world to suggest names that would then be put to a public vote. Each club or organization can then propose a name for one ExoWorld, with all submissions having to abide by the IAU Exoplanet Naming Conventions. Each submission has to supported by a detailed argument for their choice. When this stage has concluded, the public worldwide will then be invited to vote on their favorite proposed names. The final results are expected to be announced at a special public ceremony held during the IAU 29 General Assembly in Honolulu, USA, 3–14 August 2015.
Can’t wait to see what names people come up with.