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Home , 14 Lacertae, 16 Puppis, 1815 Beethoven, 20 Monocerotis, 27 Monocerotis, 28 Monocerotis

How Astronomical Objects Are Named

Jeanne E. Bishop Westlake Schools 24525 Hilliard Road Westlake, Ohio 44145 U.S.A. bishop{at}@wlake.org Sept 2004

Introduction “What, I wonder, would the of astrono- use of the by the societies of At the 1988 meeting in Rich- my be like, if we could not properly discrimi- the people that developed them. However, these different systems mond, Virginia, the Inter- nate among the themselves. Without the national Planetarium Society are beyond the scope of this arti- (IPS) released a statement ex- use of unique names, all observatories, both cle; the discussion will be limited plaining and opposing the sell- ancient and modern, would be useful to to the system of ing of names by private nobody, and the books describing these things used currently by in business groups. In this state- all countries. As we shall see, the ment I reviewed the official would seem to us to be more like enigmas history of the official constella- methods by which stars are rather than descriptions and explanations.” tions includes contributions and named. Later, at the IPS Exec- – , 1611-1687 innovations of people from utive Council Meeting in 2000, many cultures and countries. there was a positive response to The IAU recognizes 88 constel- the suggestion that as continuing Chair of with the name registered in an ‘important’ lations, all originating in ancient or the Committee for Astronomical Accuracy, I book “… is a scam. Astronomers ’t recog- during the European age of exploration and prepare a reference article that describes not nize those names. The Library of Congress mapping. Possibly, notes Owen Gingerich, only how stars are named, but how a wide doesn’t recognize those names. They’re mis- the oldest is , its use variety of sky objects get their names. “How leading the public. I’ve seen a few certificates (in the Northern Hemisphere) circling the Astronomical Objects Are Named” is the giving the positions of the star — I’ve world from an origin somewhere in Eurasia. result. I hope that this long article may checked and there wasn’t a star there. Either The idea of a for the , some- serve as a helpful “one-stop” source of they’re making up star positions, or they’re times with surrounding stars, was used by answers for most of your nomen- not interpreting the charts correctly.” (D i s - natives of , who in turn clature questions. cover, February, 2000, p. 72) migrated from Asia. When Europeans met The professional astronomy group that Planetarian Richard Pirko remarked on the Native Americans, members of both cul- makes official decisions about names of all Dome-L, “I never attempt to make the buyer tures were surprised to find that the other astronomical objects is the International look like a fool. My , however, likes to group used the name of “bear” for these stars. Astronomical Union (IAU). Sky objects with tell his classes that they can achieve the same Owen Gingerich suggests that the Bear con- names established by long usage usually are effect [as purchasing a star] by walking into stellation dates to the Ice Ages. recognized by this group. Major committees the back yard, pointing to a star, and saying, Archaeoastronomer E. C. Krupp recently of the IAU are responsible for approving sys - ‘I hereby name you Aunt Betty.’ You then reviewed and analyzed a large body of litera- t e m s that name sky objects as well as for complete the ceremony by removing from ture on the early development of the con- approving new for some indi- your wallet $45 and setting it on fire.” stellations in use today. I highly recommend vidual objects. There are specific IAU direc- This article will focus on the systems used Krupp’s article for a balanced look at differ- tions for naming different categories of by astronomers to give accepted names to ent origin ideas including the “zone of avoid- objects. celestial objects and object features as well as ance” theory (pinpointing where Like the IPS, the IAU has declared its com- the historical development of names for cat- unseen stars would have centered on the plete dissociation with the commercial prac- egories of objects, individual objects, and at certain times in the tice of “selling” fictitious star names, wishing object features that now are in use. I have precessional cycle) and Gursh- to make it unequivocally clear that any hint added anecdotal information to provide tein’s ideas on the development of of association with these companies, which additional background about the naming constellations in sequential “quartet” groups take in millions of dollars annually and have processes and to make the topic more inter- beginning in about 5600 BC. offices in many countries, is “patently false esting. Celestial nomenclature is a broad sub- There are convincing records and argu- and unfounded.” Similarly, governments ject with lots of opportunities to travel on ments that (areas of present- have noted that one cannot sell land on interesting side roads of information, so it Iran, Iraq, Northeastern Turkey, and other or their . will take some and distance (pages) to Syria) was the site of origin for many of our Strongly making this point, Brian - explore. constellations. Possibly the Lion (), the den, Director of the Minor Center and Bull ( with the ), and the Scor- The Constellations a former Associate Director of the Planetary pion (), all Zodiac figures, were Throughout the world we find different division at the Harvard-- among the earliest, appearing in the fourth names for constellations, begun long ago, all sonian Center for , declares that millennium BC. interesting and helpful to understanding the the business of having a star named for you In ancient Greece, about 700 BC, the epic

6 Planetarian September 2004 poems of I l i a d and O d y s s e y , attributed to to the Sumerian constellation core. in Cologne by Caspar Vopel (1511-1561) fif- , and Works and Days, attributed to How the majority of Phaenomena constel- teen before, developed in turn from , independently mention the Great lations made their way to Greece also is much older ideas. Tycho promoted both Bear, and the Pleiades. The of uncertain. The Minoans, a maritime group constellations, and Bere- the Pleiades was put forth as a separate con- who moved between the Middle East and nices, but Antinous did not last. stellation. the Mediterranean, may have learned the Between 1596 and 1603, twelve more con- The (c . 390 BC-340 constellations directly from Mesopotamians, stellations were added by two Dutch naviga- BC) was the first Western writer to discuss used them for their navigation, and passed tors who observed in the Southern Hemi- many of the now-recognized constellations them along to Egypt and Greece. Alterna- sphere. Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (?-1595) and of the Northern Hemisphere. We understand tively, Krupp thinks that it is just as plausible (c. 1571-1627) were in- that his presentation was given in two sepa- for Anatolia, especially Ionia on the western structed by Dutch cartographer Petrus rate books, now lost, handbooks for use with shore of the Mediterranean and a place near Plancius (1552-1622) to make and record a celestial showing these constella- Eudoxus’ home city of Cyzicus, to have observations while they were on southern tions. P h a e n o m e n a , a poem that of served as movers. Ionia was a wealthy, voyages. In an unexpected venue, a dictio- Soli wrote in about 275 BC, shows us what intellectual region, possessing excellent trade nary of Malay terms he published in 1603, Eudoxus must have described. Eudoxus and connections. The Minoans still may have Keyser added an appendix of 303 stars and 12 Aratus identified 47 of our constellations, had a part in constellation distribution, new constellations visible from the Southern including “the ” (now part of Aquar- adopting, adapting and transmitting them Hemisphere: , , , ius). Other Greek works listing P h a e n o m e n a after they finally reached Crete. , , , , , constellations were summarized by Eratos- ’s book was the most crucial , , and . Plancius thenes (276 BC-194 BC) of Cyrene, famous for instrument for transmitting the Mesopo- invented three constellations of his own finding the size of the , in the third cen- tamian constellations to later generations. which are used today: (from stars tury BC. The set of figures described by Ptolemy in Ptolemy had listed as surrounding Canis Noting the times of these Greek writings, Syntaxis in the second century AD is the Major), , and . Krupp observes, “We encounter only sparse foundation of our constellation system. We Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) of Poland, evidence for the constellations in the eighth know Ptolemy’s work by the title A l m a g e s t who modeled his astronomy work on that of century BC, but roughly 600 years later they (“the great book”). Syntaxis was translated , slipped seven more constella- parade in full regalia and present themselves into by Thabit ibn Qurra in the ninth tions among the growing number, closing as a complete set.” (, V o l . century. The Ptolemaic constellations were the a m o r p h o t o i regions. In Hevelius’ 1690 XV, p. 45.) kept vibrant in the Middle East while Europe posthumously-published star we dis- Many researchers have tried to determine was climbing out of a Dark Age. The Islamic cover , , , the origin of the other Phaenomena c o n s t e l- scholar Al-Rahman Al-Sufi (903-986 AD.) , , and . Scutum was lations, with wide agreement that most identified 48 constellations in Treatise on the introduced as Scutum Sobieski, “shield of came from Mesopotamia. Studies which S t a r s , his version of the A l m a g e s t. Al-Sufi Sobieski.” Sobieski was John III of incorporate the “zone of avoidance” theory combined Babylonian, Indian, and Bedouin Poland (1624-1696) who fought hordes of assume that the constellations were created traditions, drawing beautiful figures around Turks that invaded Europe. Four constella- in one place at one time. Since each study the stars identified by Ptolemy. For example, tions introduced by Hevelius which did not concludes that P h a e n o m e n a c o n s t e l l a t i o n s we see a camel by a woman in Al-Sufi’s repre- survive were , Mons Marinalis, originated at a latitude/ (or place/time) sentation of Cassiopeia. Al-Sufi’s book was Musca, and Triangulum Minor. (Note that combination that is somewhat different very influential in both the Islamic area and Musca already was a name for a Southern from the others, these studies do not identify in Christian Europe. A version constellation.) In his Firmamentum Sobiesci - our constellations’ roots. appeared in 1270, and an Italian translation a n m , Hevelius drew his constellation fig- Krupp says that we should not assume was made in 1341. ures with backs turned, as if they are looking that all the new constellations in P h a e n o - New constellations were added by Euro- toward the center of a . Many were created abruptly at the same loca- peans as their ships ranged to southern lati- celestial cartographers had used this tech- tion. Based on all available evidence, and the tudes. And empty spaces in the northern nique in the golden age of the celestial atlas, lack of data showing otherwise, he believes it that had not yet received beginning with Johann ’s U r a n o m e t r i a likely that an elaborate constellation system names, called by the Greek name of a m o r - of 1603, but Hevelius was the last to employ which led to P h a e n o m e n a c o n s t e l l a t i o n s p h o t o i, the “unformed” or “unshaped,” were it in a major star atlas. developed when three things existed: a filled in. All constellations that were added Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762) sailed motive (reference for of the during this post- period are con- to South Africa and established an observa- and planets), a means (instruments and liter- sidered “modern.” Many fell into disuse, but tory beneath at Cape Town. acy), and an (social organiza- many others were fused permanently with When Lacaille returned to France in 1754, tion comparable to a kingship that supports those in Ptolemy’s list. after three years of observations, he pro- time, training, and resources for specialists). With the posthumous publication of his posed fourteen new constellations to the In a central situation with these features, 1602 , Danish astronomer French Royal Academy of Science. Published newly-created constellations were fused to Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was influential in in 1756, all of them were accepted and con- imported ones, sky figures that had been popularizing two constellations engraved by tinue to be used today: , devised in other places at other times. A like- Dutchman (1512-1594) on Sculptorium (Caelum), , ly candidate for the first major creator-syn- his 1551 celestial globe. They were Coma Chimiae (Fornax), Horologium, , thesizers of our constellations was the Meso- Berenices (which Mercator called Cincinnis), , , Pictoris potamian Sumerian culture. Subsequent once part of Leo, and Antinous, which was a (), , , , Aparatus Mesopotamian kingship cultures may have section of . It is likely that Mercator Sculptoris (), and . added constellations with different origins borrowed these figures from a globe printed Lacaille named Mensa, meaning “table,” in

September 2004 Planetarian 7 honor of Cape Town’s Table Mountain, site By the beginning of the twentieth centu- The Stars of his southern observatory. If Ptolemy ry, our constellations were fairly well estab- The First Dictionary of Nomenclature of could come forward from his time in the sec- lished in the minds of observers. In 1922 the Celestial Objects, published in 1983, describes ond century AD, no doubt he would be puz- first General Assembly of the IAU officially over one thousand different star naming sys- zled by the many instrument names found adopted the list of 88 constellations. Belgian tems currently in use, mostly for faint in Lacaille’s list. Lacaille introduced another astronomer Eugene (1882-1955) objects studied by professional astronomers. change which persisted, a division of drew up a definitive list of constellation Some of these were sanctioned specifically Navis into the separate constellations of boundaries on behalf of the IAU. Since there by the IAU, while others derive approval for , , and . had been no consensus for boundaries before their professional use from astronomical tra- After Hevelius and Lacaille, many astron- this time, Delporte’s book D e l i m i t a t i o n dition. (“Sold stars” are not one of these pro- omers and cartographers tried to add constel- Scientifique des Constellations, published in fessionally-recognized systems!) lations. But their ideas did not last. 1930, formulated a rigid professional system, Proper Names Before Hevelius and Lacaille, in 1627, a system in which no further substitutions The historical development of individual (1596-1805) had substituted or additions could be made. Every position star names used today goes back to Greek Christian and Judaic names and figures for on the celestial sphere is within one of the 88 times. The works of Hesiod include traditional constellations. Schiller responded constellations as presented by Delporte. and in the eighth century BC. In 275 BC to arguments made by theologians during Actually, in Delporte’s work, there are 89 Aratus included six individual stars in the Middle Ages that the sky was filled with defined areas, since the constellation P h a e n o m e n a : Arcturus, (which he pagan images. One sees Schiller’s religious appears in two separate parts of the sky. The called Aix), , (which was an constellations in two beautiful two parts of the constellation Serpens, now entire constellation), Spica (which he called of Celestial Atlas (1661) by accepted as a single figure, are Serpens Cauda Stachus), and Vindemiatrix (which he called (c . 1596-1665). Following Schiller’s lead, (the ’s head) and Serpens Caput (the Protrygeter). Archaeoastronomer Ian Rid- Cellarius replaced the zodiacal constellations serpent’s tail.) Considering this detail, people path points out that although Aratus’ inclu- with 12 apostles and with Noah’s spoke of 89 official constellations during sion of Vindemiatrix may surprise us due to Ark. Cellarius also produced planispheres of much of the twentieth century. its relative faintness, apparently the ancient the traditional constellations in the same In 1930, when the constellations were Greeks used it as a star which mark- atlas. He left the reader to choose between caged in this definitive manner, ed the start of the grape harvest. the Judeo-Christian maps and the traditional (between Scorpius and ) became a In his S y n t a x i s (later, A l m a g e s t ) of about ones. The experiment had a decisive conclu- de facto thirteenth Zodiac constellation, or 150 AD, Ptolemy summarized knowledge of sion: no books or maps of religious constella- perhaps better described, a thirteenth eclip- 1028 stars, including estimates of their tions were produced after Cellarius. tic constellation. Ophiuchus was never part brightness based on observations by of the classical Zodiac. In 1959, three centuries earlier. Ptolemy authors of the Larousse Encyclo - did not identify most of these stars by Greek pedia of Astronomy, declared letters as we do today. Instead he used long there were 89 constellations Greek phrases, most describing the position divided into three zones: 13 of the stars within constellations. Ptolemy constellations, 29 con- added only four new names to the ones stellations (along with the rest of given by Aratus: (which he called Ophiuchus) between the ecliptic Aetus, meaning “eagle”) , zone and the north celestial (which he called Basiliscus), and (which pole, and 47 constellations he called , the same name as the constel- between the ecliptic zone and lation). the south celestial pole. Al-Sufi, as he copied and modified the To point out a constellation constellations, sometimes made in the planetarium, many of us direct translations from Greek to Arabic slide the arrow or laser pointer names, such as , which means over stars to make a figure, or we “the mouth of the southern fish.” However, indicate that lines of stars repre- Al-Sufi also applied old Arabic names to sent edges of a constellation. many stars in his reissued Arabic star charts, However, in the interest of accu- names which frequently depicted animals or racy it is advisable to let adult people. audiences know that most con- Most proper star names are a legacy from stellations have official bound- Islamic astronomers of the Middle Ages, the Northern Constellation Delporte Constellation where there is only empty grid. In 1930 the Belgian astronomer Eugene oldest system of naming stars still in use Delporte (1882-1955) was commissioned by the to the unaided eye. today. When the books prepared by Arab International Astronomical Union to create Some object names are deriv- scholars were introduced into Christian boundaries for all the constellations. Delporte ed from constellation names, was instructed to follow, as well as possible, the European countries, they were translated divisions which appeared in the principal such as stars (discussed below) into Latin. The stars kept their Arabic names. then in use. The boundaries between constella- and found within con- The Arabic , an instrument whose tions were defined by arcs of circles and par- allels of for a specific reference date, stellation boundaries. “Sco-Cen,” name means “star taker” and which has craft- the of 1875. A simple adjustment for pre- for example, is an OB association ed points representing specific stars, further cession would then give the and of stars known for having many declination of any star on any date. This map helped to spread the use of the Arabic star shows the northern celestial hemisphere. Credit: supernovae, with boundaries names to .. Eugene Delporte, Delimitations scientifiques des within both constellations See Richard Hinckley Allen’s book S t a r constellations, Cambridge University Press, 1930. Scorpius and . 8 Planetarian September 2004 Names, first published in 1899 and later by Lovi used the names in his monthly Sky and brightest stars in each of 47 constellations Dover Publications in 1963, for a wealth of T e l e s c o p e star maps and articles. By 1977, with sequential low-case Roman letters, for information about the proper names of stars Cleminshaw knew how the names originat- the first time showing fairly accurate star that can be of interest to planetarium audi- ed, and he explained their origin in his book positions on star charts. ences. Although Star Names is a very useful The Beginner’s Guide to the Constellations. See Since so many use picture book, E. C. Krupp cautions us that research Krupp’s October, 1994, “Rambling Through projections of the constellations, it may be since 1899 shows that some of the informa- the ” and Fred Schaaf’s April, 2003, “Star interesting to know that the Western-style tion in Star Names is false, including the Names New and Old,” both in Sky & Tele - pictorial began with Bayer, coin- description of the origin of ’ 12 scope, for more details. Also note the section ciding with the Renaissance art revival Labors. below “Mars: A Few Details” for the way the throughout Europe. Bayer’s constellation Also see the widely-referenced translation 1 astronauts have been honored with pictures of scantily-clad figures and by Paul Kunitzsch and Tim Smart, S h o r t official celestial names. plump women probably reflect the art val- Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Deriva - Bayer Designations ues of his time. The backward-facing figures tions (1986). The star name (in A second star-naming system was intro- found in Bayer’s U r a n o m e t r i a , and in later Orion) offers an interesting example of a duced by German astronomer atlases until the time of Hevelius, must be an translation problem. Kunitzsch and Smart (1572-1625) in his 1603 atlas U r a n o m e t r i a . attempt to match mirror-reversed stars translate Betelgeuse as “hand of the central “” is a name applied to this found on the outsides of opaque celestial one.” But in some other books and articles system. Bayer used 60 beautifully-drawn . we find “the star of the right shoulder,” “the constellations to identify stars, and he desig- The first scientific use of Bayer’s atlas was bright star in the r i g h t shoulder,” and nated each star with a Greek letter. Often by Johannes of for his 1604- “the right armpit of the giant,” all incorrectly Bayer designated stars in their order of its 1605 notation of a , “Kepler’s new including “right” as part of the meaning of apparent brightness within a constellation star,” in the constellation Ophiuchus (record- Betelgeuse. It is helpful to be aware of incor- together with the of the Latin ed in De Stella , 1606). When Kepler rect translations in sources we use for plane- constellation name. (1571-1630) redrew Bayer’s Ophiuchus chart, tarium programs and teaching. However, frequently Bayer used a combi- he added his new “star” (labeled “N”) as well Some Proper Names Used by NASA nation of brightness and positional order as positions of Mars and at two differ- Three stars received unofficial alternative within a constellation. For example, in Leo, ent times. Kepler reversed Ophiuchus from names that were used in prestigious places. the brightest star (Regulus) was Alpha Leonis, Bayer’s direction, facing the figure toward The names started as a conspiratorial joke the next brightest, Beta Leonis, etc. But in the reader instead of away. involving people in two planetariums. E.C. the brightest star () was Beta Numbers Krupp, who wears the hat of Director of the Geminorum, and the next brightest star A third important star naming system is Griffith Observatory as well as Archaeo- () was Alpha Geminorum. In Ursa Flamsteed Numbers, authored by John Flam- astronomer, explains what happened: Major, Bayer used Greek letters for the Big steed (1646-1719). Flamsteed became Eng- Astronaut Virgil Grissom made arrange- Dipper stars in the order of the Dipper pat- land’s first Astronomer Royal in 1675, the ments with Tony Jenzano (?-1997), Plane- tern. Amateur astronomers and some plane- the Greenwich Observatory was found- tarium Manager at the Morehead Plan- tarians now beginning their study of star ed. Like Hevelius, seems to etarium, to quietly rename three stars within names think of the Bayer “brightness rule” as have idolized and likened himself to Tycho a list that would be used in navigating fixed, but as James Kaler notes, “It is massive- Brahe. Flamsteed was so meticulous that he Apollo to and from the moon. ly violated.” never got around to publishing his work Grissom submitted a list of 37 stars they were When Bayer ran out of the 24 letters of the himself. An unauthorized and uncorrected to learn to instructors at Morehead. The cre- , he used Roman lower- case version of Flamsteed’s observations between ated names embedded in the list are back- letters and then upper case letters, A to Q. 1676 and 1705, without star charts, was pub- wards-spelled parts of astronaut names. Although the Roman letters no longer are lished in 1712 by Edmund in collu- Regor came from Roger (1935-1967), used for the Northern Hemisphere, the sion with Isaac . Flamsteed gathered renaming ; Dnoces came Greek letter system has been applied to the and burned all unsold copies of the Halley from Edward White II (1930-1967) for Talitha entire sky. Alan MacRobert notes that years publication, but errors in the Halley publica- or Iota Ursae Majoris (the northern star of ago names like , meaning tion were perpetuated. A correct illustrated the “third leap of the gazelle”); and Navi “Alpha of Centaurus,” seemed very natural atlas of Flamsteed’s work, Stellarum Inerran - came from Virgil Ivan Grissom (1926-1967) to people who were familiar with Greek and tium Catalogus Britannicus, often called the for Segin, the center star of the “W” asterism Latin required courses in high schools and British Catalogue, was published in 1725, four in Cassiopeia. universities in the . Today years after Flamsteed’s death. In this so-called Grissom, Chaffee, and White all died in many people in the US who hear Bayer des- “equinox 1725” system, each constellation’s the fire during a simulated count- ignations are encountering Greek and Latin stars are numbered in order of their right down on January 27, 1967, for the first time. The system may seem diffi- ascension, along with the genitive case of the The list containing the bogus names was cult or strange. Depending on general knowl- Latin constellation name. Therefore 80 passed along from the astronauts to Clarence edge of Greek and Latin in a particular coun- Virginis is east of 79 Virginis and west of 81 Cleminshaw at the Griffith Observatory try, as you present star names in the plane- Virginis. All stars were numbered, whether or planetarium, where training in celestial navi- tarium it may be helpful to discuss some not they had a Bayer designation. So Vega is gation and star identification continued. details of the Greek alphabet and Latin geni- 3 Lyrae as well as Alpha Lyra. The highest Cleminshaw accepted the list; he did not tive case. Flamsteed number within a constellation is question the authority of astronauts. When a Bayer modified a system that had been 140 Tauri. Flamsteed’s simple system of second Apollo crew trained at the Griffith introduced in 1540, over sixty years earlier, Arabic numbers was similar to the system Observatory planetarium, the three star by Italian Alessandro Piccolomini (1508- that had been used by Islamic astronomers. names remained in use. Subsequently George 1579). Piccolomini’s catalogue designated the Flamsteed’s book of constellation charts,

September 2004 Planetarian 9 based on the British Catalogue, tudes for the brightest 9,110 stars (stars to a b i n i n g AC data with Tycho-1 positions in a was published with modifications by Abra- faintness of about 6.5). This list hybrid ACT Catalog. The ACT Catalog l i s t s ham Sharp in 1729. On the chart of Androm- remains the basis of the now widely-used star positions that are almost as precise in eda, for example (see front cover), one sees Yale . 2004 as they were in 1991. However, the the Bayer system of Greek letters. An unla- The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Tycho-2 Catalogue, prepared in 2000 by syn- beled object can be identified at the location (SAO) Star Catalog, a compilation published thesizing data from the AC, Tycho-1, and sev- of M 31, the . in 1966, lists very accurate positions for eral other catalogs, plus employing better In 1930, with the publication of the IAU- 258,997 stars, to a faintness of about 9th mag- computer processing techniques not avail- supported work of Delporte, many Flam- nitude. SAO stars are numbered by right able earlier, essentially has made Tycho-1 and steed catalogue star names became truly puz- ascension within 10 -wide declination the ACT catalogues obsolete. zling. Some stars which previously were in strips. The SAO Star Catalog expanded on the The Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) certain constellations now were in different single General Catalogue of 33,342 Stars ( G C ) part of NASA’s Origins program recorded constellations. For example, 49 Serpentis is in by Benjamin Boss, published in 1937. data for over 470 million point sources and Hercules and is in . The United States Naval Observatory has over 1.5 million extended sources from 1997 Flamsteed numbers usually were applied the current most dominant catalog, which to 2001. Although the 2MASS catalog sources only by those in , although Johann contains over half a billion stars. The USNO are much less utilized than the United States gave Flamsteed-type numbers to stars Catalog (A1.0 on 10 CDs) and A2.0 on 11 CDs) Naval Observatory sources, Principal of the . Flamsteed is the current record holder for the world’s Investigator Michael Skrutskie enthuses that numbers still are used frequently, although largest star catalog. It covers the entire sky, this data volume is “several hundred times the only Southern Flamsteed numbers and it was created by scanning red and blue larger than that contained in the human applied by Bode that have survived are 30 plates from different surveys. In its prepara- genome. Astronomers will become cosmic Dor and 47 Tuc. tion, objects that appeared on only one col- geneticists, searching out patterns in these Other Star-Naming Systems ored plate were eliminated, which helped to sky maps to decode the structure and origin As revealed fainter and fainter evade the problem of spurious objects. of the and the surrounding near- stars, new systems for identity were needed. The Space Guide Star by .” The BD system, for Bonner Catalog (GSC) contains 18,819,291 objects, There are eight types of 2MASS catalogs, (Bonn Survey), was begun in 1859 by German available on two CD-ROMs. The GSC’s including the All-Sky Point Source Catalog astronomer Friedrich W. (1799- brightest objects are 9t h magnitude, since (“2MASS) and the All-Sky Extended Source 1875) at Bonn Observatory. Stars including brighter stars cannot be used by Hubble’s Catalog (“2MASX”). Object nomenclature tenth magnitude are included in this list. For guide cameras. Most of the objects are 13t h - uses these catalog acronyms with numbers the BD, Argelander and subsequent mapmak- 1 4 t h magnitude stars, although some 15t h representing very precise right ascension and ers divided the sky into narrow declination magnitude objects are included and 3.6 mil- declination. bands (1o) each beginning at 0 right lion of the objects are faint . Some other important professional nam- ascension. Vega’s designation in this system A set of catalogues based on the Hipparcos ing systems are found in the following cata- is BD+38o 3238, the 3,238t h star between Space Mission are the H i p p a r c o s logs: the Positions and Proper Motions Catalog declination +38 and +39. The first BD cov- C a t a l o g (HIP), the Hipparcos Input Catalog (PPM), and the Zodiacal Catalog (ZC) by ered the north celestial pole to -2o d e c l i n a- (HIC), and the Tycho Catalog (T). The Hippar- Robertson. tion, the next, called the SBD, covered the cos spacecraft name is derived from HIgh Astronomers maintain web-based data sky to -23o declination, and the last, the CD Precision COllecting , a bases of sky objects. The largest and most or CoD for the Cordoba Durchmusterung, name honoring the early Greek astronomer used astronomical data base, containing stars extended to the south celestial pole. A total Hipparchus. Large scientific teams collabo- as well as other Galactic objects outside of of 1,071,800 D u r c h m u s t e r u n g star designa- rated with the (ESA) the (and extragalactic objects tions were made. BD names still are in use, to release these catalogs in 1997. HIP includes since 1983), is SIMBAD, or “Set of Identifi- but the magnitudes given in the BD catalogs position , magnitudes, proper cations, Measurements, and Bibliography for are unreliable. motions, and uncertainties. Objects are Astronomical Data.” SIMBAD contains 1.54 A rival to the Cordoba Durchmusterung ordered by right ascension. HIC gives the million objects with 4.4 million identifying was the nineteenth-century Cape Photo - data input to Hipparcos. The Tycho Catalog names, cross-indexed to over 2200 cata- graphic Durchmusterung (CPD), the first major ((now, called T y c h o - 1) is a specialized set of logues, based on 2.5 million bibliographical astronomical work to be carried out photo- Hipparcos data. A user-friendly website con- references. graphically. The CPD gives the approximate tains parts of the catalogs, and it supports The CDS Service that maintains SIMBAD positions and magnitudes of nearly half a those who have and use the catalogs: at Strasbourg University and Harvard Uni- million Southern Hemisphere stars. h t t p : / / a s t r o . e s t e c . e s a . n l / H i p p a r c o s / h i p p a r - versity peruses over 90 journals for Galactic The Catalog (HD), of stellar cos.html. Because, unlike earlier database objects. Astronomers at recognized institu- spectra is a widely used catalog. In the early studies, Hipparcos did not operate for several tions in the United States, Europe, and Japan years of the twentieth century U.S. astrono- decades, T y c h o - 1 proper data is rela- can obtain free passwords to get internet mer Annie Jump (1863-1941) at tively poor. Positions based on T y c h o - 1 d a t a access to SIMBAD. Applications for a pass- Harvard College Observatory listed the spec- are excellent for times near 1991 (the mid- word may be sent by E-mail to CDS Service tra of 225,300 stars in order of right ascen- point of the satellite observations) and are located at the Strasbourg, France Astro- sion. More were added in the Henry Draper slowly getting worse as time passes nomical Data Center: [email protected] Extension (HDE). All stars with HD or HDE The Astrographic Catalog (AC) c o n t a i n s strasbg.fr. A User’s Guide for SIMBAD may be designations have had their spectra ana- data for about 4 million stars, prepared from retrieved from: ftp://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/pub/ lyzed. plates imaged about a century ago. The A C simbad/guide13.ps.gz. In 1908 another catalog was issued at contains four times as many stars as Tycho-1. SIMBAD is just one the CDS acronyms Harvard: the Revised Harvard The United States Naval Observatory taken from stories of The Thousand and One (HR), which tried to give accurate magni- (USNO) derived improved positions by com- Nights. The stories were written in the - 10 Planetarian September 2004 en age of Islamic astronomy. The son (Al- is found to be a variable, it is not given a new Ma’mun) of the sultan (Haran Al-Rashid) of name, so Beta Persei (), and Omicron the Thousand Nights stories commissioned Ceti () do not have letters or V numbers. translation of Ptolemy’s work into Arabic Variable stars are classified in groups named and also founded observatories in Baghdad for one typical representative, such as “Mira and Damascus. CDS’s ALADIN is an interac- stars or “RR Lyrae stars.” “Cepheid” is the tive digital computer atlas. The VizieR is a name usually applied to stars like Delta search program for a large catalog library. Cephei. Sagittarius has the largest number of And ’s Bazaar allows access to variable stars, with a star recently getting the over one thousand astronomy catalogues designation of V4333 Sgr. on-line. As a result of so many naming systems Extrasolar Planets and catalogues, a bright or interesting star With well over 100 extrasolar planets now may have quite a few names. The multiple known, some might think that the IAU names are found on astronomy software pro- would by now have invented a proper- Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse, also Alpha grams. For example, in the Voyager III Orionis in Bayer designation, is names system for these planets. Geoffrey Dynamic Sky Simulator program (Carina shown here as photographed by the Marcy, who has participated in the discov- Hubble . Any time Software), clicking on a mapped star causes ery of a majority of the extrasolar planets, from next year to hundreds of thou- at least 8 different star names pop up. For sands of years from now Betelgeuse would like to see a system which bestows Betelgeuse one reads: AlphaOri, 58 Ori, HR is expected to become a supernova names on the extrasolar planets “represent- and then a or ing the elusive but crucial element of human 2061, SAO 113271, HD 39801, BD M+7 1005, hole. Betelgeuse is a semiregular vari- and Hipp 27989. able star, changing from between social coexistence on Earth. These would be The idea of one star (and other sky +0.2 to 1.2 magnitude. Betelgeuse’s words, in different languages, for peace, fruit- variability was first noticed by John objects) having different names may seem Herschel in 1836. The name Betel- ful coexistence, compromise, empathy, and odd to both students and adults in our plane- geuse is translated authoritatively personal and global insight. The new planets tarium audiences. Brian Marsden says, “The from Arabic as “hand of the central should belong to everyone — to all nations one,” with no reference to the giant’s existence of multiple names is very impor- right side. Although Betelgeuse usu- and cultures.” tant from the point of view that it provides ally is pronounced “Beteljuz” or James Kaler says that it is beneficial to “Beetle-joos,” Harvard astronomer keep the system simple because even now redundancy, thereby making it clear that, by Donald H. Menzel (1901-1976) told supplying more than one designation as a friends that he liked to say there are too many of these objects for all to check, we know which object we are talking “Betelgerz” … for euphony.” Credit: A. have proper names. And certainly more of Dupree (CfA), R. Gilliland (STScI), about.” NASA these objects will be found. The existence of multiple names is a fact Alan Boss, who heads the IAU section to of astronomy , and we have a responsibil- the term “” means different things in name such planets, explains that at this time ity to explain the situation to those who the different disciplines. there is no agreement for proper names attend our star programs. An understanding Variable Stars among those astronomers working in the of multiple names can help people who In 1862 Friedrich Argelander began the BD extrasolar planets field. The star (primary) of make use of astronomy software programs system for variable stars that is in use today. a system now gets the letter A after the star like Voyager and on-line astronomy sources. Since capital Roman letter Bayer designa- name and its planets get b, c, d, etc. The stars Double and Multiple Stars tions go only as far as Q in the alphabet for with extrasolar planets sometimes have Since so many stars are doubles or multi- faint stars, Argelander proposed using the let- tongue-twisting designations that must be ples, a system for naming the components is ters R to Z for naming the variable stars in mentioned over and over again in discus- necessary. In a naked-eye binary, two stars each constellation. When some constella- sions and papers. One host star which has a close together, whether a physical binary or tions were found to contain more than nine Henry Draper classification is HD114762. not, the western one is labeled 1. For exam- variable stars, the naming system was William Cochran of the University of Texas ple, Zubenelgenubi, , is a wide expanded to two-letter designations, and found this unwieldy enough that he named . The western star is named then to numbers. Now the designation con- the host “George.” And Alfred Vidal Madjar Alpha-1 Librae and the eastern star is named sists of one or two letters and the genitive of France refers to the host star HD209445A Alpha-2 Librae, even though Alpha-2 Librae case of the constellation or a “V” with a as “Osiris”. is much brighter than Alpha-1 Librae. number and the genitive (or its abbrevia- Hélène Dickel, Past Chair of the IAU For stars in a telescopic binary or multiple tion) of the constellation name. U Sagittarii, Working Group on Designations, points out system, the brighter or the first-discovered RR Lyrae, and all are variable that extrasolar planet identification and star (they usually go together) is called A, and stars. study is still a very young field. Astronomers the fainter, B (and then D, E, etc.) The Roman The first variable found in a constellation are too busy discovering new planets to letters follow a Bayer, Flamsteed, or catalog receives the letter R, the next S, and so on up spend much time on their names. A system designation. Thus the compan- to Z. The tenth variable is RR, then RS up to already exists for naming multiple objects, ion of Sirius is named correctly with all of RZ. The nineteenth is SS, the ST, up to SZ. found in the Washington Multiplicity Catalog the following: Sirius B, Alpha Canis Majoris B, The pattern continues to YY, YZ, and ZZ and (http://ad.usno.navy.mil/wds/new wds and HD 48915B. Perhaps one of the most dif- then AA, AB to AZ, BB to BZ up to QQ to QZ. .html). Among many new multiple objects ficult areas of astronomical nomenclature to The letter J is omitted to avoid confusion that most surely will be discovered with the understand, astronomers in different disci- with the letter I. Thus there are 334 possible next series of space telescopes, probably plines or specialties involving study of bina- designations for each constellation with this there will be a lot of extrasolar planets. ry stars have different ways of referring to scheme, and beyond that the V with a num- Dickel thinks it likely that astronomers will them. Stars expert James Kaler explains that ber is used. If a star with a Bayer designation designate these extrasolar planets, along with the other binary and multiple objects,

September 2004 Planetarian 11 with the naming system found in the vatory by Nicholas Sanduleak (1933–1990). Type Ia supernovae have a very impor- Washington Multiplicity Catalog. SN 1987A was the first supernova of 1987. If tant role as standard candles in determining all 26 of the capital Roman letters have been distances to remote galaxies. Within the past Novae and Supernovae used for supernovae before reaching the end five years, observations of Type Ia super- A newly-discovered nova is named with of a particular year, then double lower case novae have shown that the Hubble constant the year in which it occurs written after the letters are applied. SN 2005aa would be the is not really constant, that its value increases genitive case of the constellation. Later the name of the 27t h supernova of 2005. Names at very large distances. Along with additional nova receives a designation. So are applied in a sequence of aa through az, data, the upward turning curve of recession- Nova Cygni 1975 is also V1500 Cygni. then ba through bz, and so on. The nominal al velocity of distant galaxies containing If there is more than one nova per year in reason for switching to lower-case double Type Ia supernovae has pushed astronomers a given constellation, the novae initially are letters was that it allowed designations to to invoke the exotic concept of abundant distinguished as No. 1, No. 2, etc. This system sort correctly by computer. In reality, says dark energy. Topics of dark energy and type also is applied to novae in the large Magel- Brian Marsden, there is a historical reason: Ia supernovae go together in a planetarium lanic (LMC) and Small Magellanic lower-case single letters used to be used for program about . Cloud (SMC), but not to other galaxies. designations (which changed in 1994), In other galaxies novae and other vari- while upper-case double letters are used for Coordinate System Epoch and ables receive only “V” numbers. provisional names of minor planets (aster- Time are Important A supernova is named with the year it oids) and TNOs or KBOs, both or which are Early star charts had no coordinate axes. occurs and a capital Roman letter for its discussed later in this article. Since there are Bayer introduced grid lines in his 1603 Urano - order in a recorded within only about three supernovae in a given m e t r i a , so that each star could be distin- that year. If the star had one or more catalog galaxy in a thousand years, this naming sys- guished to within a few tenths of a degree. designations before it reached supernova tem’s number of possibilities is sufficient for Flamsteed’s posthumous British Catalogue stage, the catalog names are retained and supernovae that are seen in all galaxies. contained two innovations that have been now said to apply to the “precursor” stars. The very energetic objects called gamma invaluable to astronomers: right ascension For example, supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) ray bursts (GRBs) have been matched conclu- and declination of stars and an adjustment was identified with the precursor star named sively with supernova explosions if they last for . o Sanduleak -69 202. The precursor was the from 2 seconds to several minutes (long To communicate positions of very faint nd th 202 object within the 69 degree south of duration). Normally a gamma ray burst gets objects seen with today’s powerful telescopes the in The Deep Prism Survey the name of GRB followed by numbers of requires very precise coordinates. Astrono- of the , published at year, , and day of discovery, such as mers study objects at many different wave- Cleveland, Ohio’s Warner and Swasey Obser- GRB 021211, named for the GRB found on lengths, so they need a precise system for December 11, 2002. If more than one gamma matching observations. ray burst is discovered on the same day, a Precession movement, the slow westward capital Roman letter of A, B, etc. is added to migration of the equinox position the designation. The reason for using the along the Zodiac, is a very important consid- date instead of right ascension and declina- eration in fixing accurate coordinates. Hip- tion is that frequently GRBs have very poor- parchus of Nicaea and Rhodes (190 BC-120 ly established initial coordinates. Most of the BC) made a highly accurate calculation of time the positions of (neutron stars the rate of precession, 46” per year. That is which are one kind of ) very close to the modern value of 50.26” per are well known. Therefore a naming system year, and it is much better than the value of including right ascension and declination is 36” per year found by Ptolemy nearly 300 used. See http://cdswebiu-strasbf.fr/cgi- years later. A number of studies indicate that bin/Dic. probably precession was noticed earlier by Strictly speaking, category designations ancient Egyptians. Hipparchus may have are not names. However, it is useful to know employed Babylonian data to find the that supernovae are classified into two main length of the tropical year (time between categories, I and II, with Ia and normal-type successive arrivals of the at the vernal Tycho Supernova Remnant (Tycho SNR) in X-Ray. Here we “see” in X-ray II being the most common. Frequently the equinox), checking it against data he gath- radiation the of a shockwave supernova category is given with the discov- ered himself as well as data of earlier Greek generated as the material from the scientists. Applying his determined value of supernova expands into the sur- ery or research information. Type Ia (SN Ia) rounding gas and dus t. In 1572 supernovae have been observed in all types the tropical year, Hipparchus deduced the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe saw of galaxies, while types II (SN II), Ib (SN Ib), precessional rate. the next-to-last-observed supernova in the Milky Way and was so im- and IIc (SN IIc) have been observed only in As precession constantly changes the posi- pressed that he devoted much of the spirals, barred spirals and irregular galaxies. tion of a star or other object with respect to remainder of his life to astronomy. The type of star which becomes a SN Ia is the vernal equinox or any reference position, Using IAU nomenclature for super- novae, this object is SNR 1572, since no thought to detonate (supersonic burning the exact time or e p o c h on which the right other supernovae were noted in 1572. front) or deflagrate (subsonic burning front) ascension and declination (or other coordi- A SIMBAD “Query Result” shows that nates) are based must be identified. For any SNR 1572 has a large total of 42 differ- an accreting white dwarf in a . ent identifiers, mostly due to differ- The star becoming a normal SN II is thought date the coordinates can be adjusted to a ent catalog listings. A frequently- to be caused by core collapse of a very mas- standard date, the epoch. The most common used alternative name for SNR 1572 is G 120.1+1.4, 3C 10, an entry in A. sive star. Spectra and light curves are used to standard date for coordinates given in the ’s Catalogue of Galactic Super- distinguish supernovae types. Supernova twentieth century was 1950.0 and the inter- nova Remnants. Credit: S.L. Snowden, 1987A was a II pec (II peculiar) core-collapse val of time from that epoch was based on the ROSAT, MPE, NASA. o supernova. sun reaching longitude 285 . This is the 12 Planetarian September 2004 Besselian 1950 or B1950 system of coordi- twists through details of previous sightings, reluctantly looked and saw the planet on nates. work by people in both Europe and Great both August 4 and August 12, 1845; but then There is a difference between “Equinox” Britain based on theoretical calculations, and he did not take the necessary time to com- and “Epoch”. Many older star catalogues use chance events that possibly robbed some pare all the points seen at those times with “Epoch” to be the date from which proper astronomers (and an amateur astronomer) of points he had recorded on July 30. motions should be applied to the tabulated fame, is well worth planetarium program would have found if he had made positions, which may be different from the time. After Neptune was discovered and its all of the tedious comparisons. From analysis “Equinox” (in terms of precession) to which had been worked out reasonably well, of the documents, Kollerstrom con- the mean positions are referred. old records showed that earlier astronomers cludes that Challis did not have a good indi- In 1984, as precessional motion had had seen it. was just one of those who cation of the planet’s location. The records enlarged the difference between an object’s saw Neptune, recording the planet at least show that changed his mind repeat- B1950 coordinates and its coordinates based three times, first on December 28, 1612, and edly and that his predictions varied over 20 on a current-date position of the Vernal then on January 27 and January 28, 1613. degrees of sky. But better maps would surely Equinox, the International Astronomical Galileo even noted that Neptune, which he have helped Challis. Brian Marsden notes Union (IAU) changed both the epoch and called a star, had moved away from another that “ and d’Arrest had the singular time standard for coordinates. The standard point, now known to be a real star. Joseph advantage of the availability of the new epoch became 2000.0, and the interval of Jerome de Lalande (1732-1807) of France re- Berlin chart of the appropriate region.” time for transformation from that epoch corded Neptune on May 10 and 12 in 1795. (with now-questionable status as a was changed to the Julian century of 36525 (1792-1871) even saw it, on July planet) was discovered on February 18, 1930, days. This system is the J2000 system of 14, 1830, recording it as a star. John by Clyde W. (1906-1997) using a coordinates. (or Johann von Lamont, 1805-1879), who was blink comparator at the Observatory It is important for astronomers to note in Scotland but who lived most of his in Flagstaff, Arizona. The discovery of the whether they are using B1950 or J2000 coor- life in Munich, recorded Neptune at least ninth planet was the of a third dinates. The amount of difference can be three times — October 25, 1845, September 7, search funded by Percival Lowell. Tom- about 3 minutes of right ascension and a 1846, and September 11, 1846 — the last date baugh found Pluto (magnitude of approxi- quarter of a degree of declination. just 12 days before its identification as a plan- mately 13.5) in a position calculated from et. supposed perturbations by and The Nine Planets The name Neptune, Roman god of the Neptune. Now we understand that the gravi- Most planetarians are aware that the plan- and counterpart to the Greek , was tational effects are far too small to make et names we use are all those of Roman gods, applied to the eighth planet soon after it was such perturbations. Thus Tombaugh’s dis- with many of the attributes of Greek gods. found. Conventionally, credit for Neptune’s covery was a fortunate accident. Tom- But a review, with further details, should be discovery is given equally to Urbain Jean baugh’s story of Pluto’s discovery, recorded given in any inclusive treatment of astro- Joseph Leverrier (1811-1877) of France and in a number of places, is very engaging and nomical names. John Couch Adams (1819-1892) of Great worthy of treatment in planetarium pro- is the Roman god of commerce, Britain. Both Leverrier and Adams calculated grams. On October 22, 1988, at the annual travel, and thieving and is the counterpart of the probable location of a new planet, based Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA) the Greek to the gods, . on the deviation of Uranus from its predict- conference at Bowling Green, Ohio, Tom- is the Roman name representing ed orbit applying Newton’s gravitational baugh delivered a spell-binding presentation Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and law. The first sighting, based on Leverrier’s of “The Discovery of the Planet Pluto”. He beauty. Mars was a Roman god of agriculture predictions, was on September 23, 1846, by distributed photographs and wrote personal before its association with the Greek god of Johann Gottfried Galle (1812-1910) and autographs on them for conference partici- war, Ares. Jupiter (Jove) is the patron god of Ludwig d’Arrest (1822-1875) at the pants. the Roman state, counterpart to the chief Berlin Observatory. See http://www-groups The name Pluto, the Roman god of the Olympian god , son of Cronos. , . d c s . s t a n d . a c . u k / ~ h i s t o r y / H i s t T o p i c s / underworld and the counterpart of the like Mars, was a Roman agricultural god Neptune (1996). Greek god Hades, was first suggested by until it became identified with the Greek As an interesting sideline to Neptune’s dis- Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old girl from Cronos, son of Uranus and . covery, it is difficult to determine if Adams Oxford, England. Pluto is so far from the sun When Uranus was discovered by William and Leverrier deserve equal credit. Some doc- that it seems to be in the solar system’s Herschel (1738-1822) on 13, 1781, he uments pertaining to Adams’ work were underworld. Appropriately, the first two ini- proposed the name of “the Georgius Sidus” found in Chile in 1999, and they have been tials of Pluto are those of the benefactor of (George) in honor England’s King George III studied by historian Nicholas Kollerstrom of searches for it, Percival Lowell. The follow- (1738-1820, sometimes called the “insane University College . Kollerstrom ing names also were suggested for the ninth king”, a condition resulting from a genetic believes that British claims have been exag- planet: Atlas, Aretemis, Tantalus, Chronus, disease or “the king who lost America”. gerated. Traditionally Britain’s Astronomer , Vulcan, and Minerva, although Others called the new planet “Herschel.” But Royal George (1801-1892) has been criti- Minerva was already a . it was “Uranus,” the name suggested by cized for being slow to respond to Adams’ People have speculated on the possibility Johann Bode (1747-1826) because Uranus request to look for the planet, in fact being of a major “Planet X” beyond the orbit of would fit with the other planet classical mentioned by biographers as the most con- Neptune. (Pluto also was given the title of names, which eventually stuck. By about troversial Astronomer Royal. Adams gave “Planet X” before its discovery.) When 1850 all astronomers had accepted the name Airy information on the position of the Voyager 2 flew near Neptune, the discrepan- Uranus. We realize now that Uranus was “new planet” on October 21, 1845 and it was cies between data showing existence of seen in 1690, by John Flamsteed, because July 9, 1845, before Airy asked James Challis another planet and data showing no planet Flamsteed recorded it on a star chart as 34 (1803-1882), Director of the Cambridge vanished. There is no planet the size of Earth Tau. Observatory, to begin a search for it. Challis or larger in the region beyond but near to The story of Neptune’s discovery, which

September 2004 Planetarian 13 Neptune. If an Earth-sized object someday is groups/countries; however, a higher 4. Boundaries of many large features (t e r - found far beyond Neptune, the IAU may percentage of names from the country rae, regiones, planitiae, and plana) are not have a chance to name a new planet. planning a landing is allowed on land- topographically or geomorphically dis- ing site maps. tinct. The coordinates of these features 7. No names having political, military, or are identified from an arbitrarily chosen How Names are Approved religious significance may be used, center point. Boundaries and subse- Generally, when images first are obtained except for names of political figures quent coordinates may be determined for the surface of a planet or a satellite, a prior to the 19th century. more accurately in the future from geo- naming scheme is chosen. A few of the major 8. Commemoration of persons on plane- chemical and geophysical data. features are given names, usually by the tary bodies should not be a goal in itself Organization of the Planetary Nomenclature members of the appropriate IAU task group. but should be reserved for persons of Gazetteer When later higher resolution images and high and enduring international stand- A system of naming planet surface fea- maps are available, features that investiga- ing. Persons being so honored must tures is needed so that a particular feature on tors want named are supplied with names. have been deceased for at least three the surface of a planet or a satellite can be Suggestions to the task group may come years. located, described, and discussed. from any source, and a file is kept of appro- 9. When more than one spelling a name is One can obtain detailed information priate names that may be used. Names suc- extant, the spelling preferred by the per- about all names of topographic and cessfully reviewed by a task group are sub- son, or used in an authoritative refer- features of planets and satellites, as well as mitted to larger panel, the Working Group ence, should be used. Diacritical marks some planetary ring and ring-gap systems for Nomenclature are a necessary part of a name and will beginning at http://planetarynames.wr.usgs (WGPSN). After review by the WGPSN, suc- be used. .gov. The document is under continuous cessful names are considered as approved 10. Ring and ring-gap nomenclature and development. The edition of the Gazetteer of provisionally and they can be used on maps names for newly discovered satellites Planetary Nomenclature described at this and in publications as long as the provisional are developed in joint deliberation web address at the time this article was pre- status is stated clearly. The provisional between WGPSN and IAU Commission pared contains all bodies named and names then are presented for adoption to the 20. Names will not be assigned to satel- approved by the IAU from 1919 through IAU General Assembly, which meets every lites until their are rea- 1997. The appendices available at this address three years. A name is not considered to be sonably well known or definite features are very informative. official until then. Transactions of the IAU have been identified on them. Forty-seven descriptor terms or feature list approved names. If you wish to make a Naming Conventions types are listed in the Planetary Nomencla- suggestion, you can submit it to the U.S. In addition to the above rules, the WGPSN ture Gazetteer. Appendix 4 gives 172 specific Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeology, and its task committees of the IAU follow sources of planetary names. Appendix 5 con- Attention Jennifer Blue, Room 409, 2255 N. these naming conventions tains definitions of all Latin-named feature Gemini Drive, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 or E- 1. Names for all planetary features (usually types with their plurals: astrum, catena, cavus, mail [email protected]. Suggestions are for- in Latin) include a descriptor term, with chaos, , colles, corona, crater, dorsum, warded to the appropriate IAU task groups. the exception of two types. The first ex- eruptive center, facula, farrum, flexus, fluctus, Some General IAU Rules ception is craters and the second excep- fossa, labes, labyrinthus, lacus, landing site, Rules for all names adopted by the IAU fol- tion is some features on (Jupiter satel- large ringed feature, lenticula, linea, macula, low certain general rules and conventions, lite) and Triton (Neptune satellite), mare, mensa, mons, oceanus, palus, patera, which have been reexamined and amended because they are recognized as being planitiae, planum, plume, promontorium, regio, through the years. Planetary Nomenclature transitory. reticulum, rima, rupes, scopulus, sinus, sulcus, rules are as follows: 2. The naming convention for a feature terra, tessera, , undae, vallia, vastitas. The 1. The name should be simple, clear, and type does not normally depend on size. terms l a c u s (small plain), o c e a n u s (large dark unambiguous. Exceptions to this rule are channels area), p a l u s (small plain, promontorium 2. The number of names chosen for each (v a l l e s ) on Mars and craters on the (headland), and r i m a (fissure) are used only body should be kept to a minimum, and Moon, Mars, and Venus. Naming con- for the Moon. Notice there is no c a n a l e their placement governed by the ventions for craters and channels do (canali). requirements of the scientific commu- depend on size. Regio was used as a clas- Appendix 6 of the Gazetteer lists the cate- nity. sification feature on early maps of the gories of features by planet and satellite and 3. Duplication of the same name on two or Moon and Mercury, drawn from tele- the adopted convention for naming a partic- more bodies should be avoided. scope observations, to describe vague ular feature on that planet or satellite. For 4. Individual names chosen for each body albedo features. R e g i o now is used to example, craters on Mercury must be named should be expressed in the language of delineate a broad geographic region. for deceased artists, musicians, painters, and origin. 3. Named features on bodies so small that authors. Rupes (scarps, denoted as rup\-es f o r 5. Where possible, themes established in coordinates have not yet been deter- the plural) are to be named for ships of dis- early solar system nomenclature should mined are identified on drawings of the covery or scientific expeditions, and v a l l e s be used and expanded upon. body that are included in the IAU (valleys) get the names of radio telescope 6. Solar system nomenclature should be Transactions volume of the year when facilities. international in its choice of names. the names were adopted. Satellite rings Venus’ 22 different types of features Recommendations submitted to the and gaps are named for scientists who receive names for women and goddesses. IAU national committees will be consid- have studied these features. A system for V a l l e s (valleys) on Venus get either the ered, but final selection of the names is planetary atmospheric features at pre- names of river goddesses, if they are less than the responsibility of the IAU. The sent is informal. A formal system will be 400 km in length, or the name for the planet WGPSN strongly supports equitable chosen in the future. Venus in different world languages, if they selection of names from different ethnic

14 Planetarian September 2004 are over 400 km in length. Venus’ craters allows astronomers to balance representa- sician to Queen Elizabeth I of England and receive either the names of famous women, tion from different countries an early investigator of magnetism, made if they are over 20 km in , or com- the only known pre-telescopic drawings of mon feminine names if they are less than 20 The Moon the moon. A book that published in km in diameter. Features called fossae ( l o n g , Although the Moon currently is subject to 1651 contains a lunar map with a total of 13 narrow, shallow depressions) and lineae (dark the naming procedures of the WGPSN found Latin names. We find B r i t t a n n i a for Mare or bright elongate markings) receive names in the Planetary Nomenclature Gazetteer, Crisium, Continens meridionalis for Mare Nu- of war goddesses. This latter convention the Moon’s unique position both in our sky bium, Insula Borealis for parts of Mare seems strange for a planet that the Greeks and in history makes it worthy of additional Frigoris, Regio Magna Occidentalis for Mare held as a goddess of love and beauty. discussion. The book Mapping and Naming Serenitatis, and Regio Magna Orientalis f o r The one exception to the women-only the Moon: A History of Lunar and Mare Imbrium. Gilbert, agreeing with da names rule for Venus is 19th century scientist Nomenclature by Ewen A. Whitaker, is a Vinci, thought that dark areas represented James Clerk of Scotland (1831-1879). wonderful source of information. land and light areas represented . Maxwell, famous for his theories of electro- The maria, which always are directed The first lunar map made with the aid of a magnetism which allowed the Venus toward the Earth as the moon rotates in the telescope was drawn by Thomas of mission’s radar, is honored with same period that it revolves, have inspired Great Britain (c.1560-1621), although almost . Maxwell Montes is the name creation throughout human history. no one knew of it until 1965. Harriot made highest mountain on Venus, taller than The Chinese idea of a rabbit sitting on its his first lunar sketch four before Earth’s Mount Everest. haunches pounding rice is what Whitaker Galileo. Mistakenly, Galileo usually is given In Appendix 7 of the Gazetteer one finds calls “an excellent example of a springtime credit for the first telescope map of the the source of names for planets and satellites, image.” (p. 6). The perception of a moon. The credit probably was misplaced as well as discovery dates. A total of 38 of dragon, tree, and little man which can be because Galileo published sketches and Jupiter’s satellites and 30 of Saturn’s satellites traced to Albertus Magnus (c . 1 1 9 3 - 1 2 8 0 ) , descriptions in his book are found in the approved-name list. More found its way into present lunar nomencla- (Sidereal Message). Harriot used a system of have been confirmed. It is not clear that al of ture, first via , as he wrote of “the numbers for lunar features that were some- the unconfirmed satellites of Jupiter and dog, the bush, and the man,” and then to what like the Bayer designations for stars. Saturn actually are satellites. Eros, Pierre Gassendi (1592- Gaspra, Ida, and Mathilde, are listed in this 1655) of France, as he source, although many additional asteroids included Homuncio now have names (See the discussion below.) (“the little man”) in his Most planet and satellite names are charac- system dated to about ters found in classical mythology. 1630. The names of the Uranian satellites come Two lunar names primarily from plays by Shakespeare (Eng- mentioned by Plutarch lishman William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, (c. 46 AD-119 AD), which although the actual writer of “Shakespeare” survived to the first half is disputed) Interestingly, there is an Ariel in of the seventeenth cen- The Tempest by Shakespeare, but there also is tury, are Penetralia He - an Ariel in The Rape of the Lock by Alexander cates and Caspia. Plu- Pope (1688-1744). Brian Marsden thinks it tarch wrote that the likely that William (1799-1880), who “greatest hollow” on the discovered the pair of satellites in 1851, moon was called t h e intended Ariel and Umbriel both to repre- Shrine of Hecate. Whit- sent characters from Pope’s work aker concludes that t h e The complete IAU file of planetary Shrine of Hecate, where nomenclature is sorted in two ways, first, souls passed, p r o b a b l y alphabetically by planetary body, satellite, refers to Mare Imbrium. and feature type; second, alphabetically The Moon’s Caspia o r without respect to planet or feature type. Caspian Sea e v i d e n t l y Colorful Moon. On its way to Jupiter in 1992 the Galileo Coordinates listed in columns labeled “lat” was a non-specific fea- spacecraft took 15 photographs of the near side of the and “long” are taken from the maps identi- ture that was applied to moon with three color filters. The pictures were com- Mare Crisium by the bined into this exaggerated color collage to emphasize fied in columns “quad” and “map,” or from composition differences. The blue colors show titanium- digital images. Coordinates of features are seventeenth century. rich regions, while orange and purple depict areas rela- updated occasionally as new observational Plutarch categorized the tively lacking in titanium and iron. part of the Moon turned (the Sea of Tranquility) is the royal blue area on the data become available. For maps published right. (the Ocean of Storms) is the by the United States Geological Survey away from Earth as T h e large blue and orange area on the left, the moon’s “right (USGS), the field ‘quad” identifies the infor- Elysian Plain and the cheek” from the perspective of the surface of the moon. The crater Tycho is the bright rayed object in the lower mal name of the map, and the field “map” part toward Earth as The part of the picture. In 1651, Jesuit priest P. Giovanni lists the USGS map identification “I” number. Plain of Persephone. Riccioli of Italy pos itioned the c raters he n amed Leonardo Copernicus and in Oceanus Procellarum, the For identification on lunar maps published ocean, ostensibly showing Church authorities that he in the 1960s and early 1970s or Russian maps (1452-1519) of Italy and adhered to the belief that the Earth does not move. But of Venus published in 1985 and 1986, differ- Jan (c. 1 3 9 0 - notice two things: Copernicus is larger than Tycho and 1441) of , artist- Aristarchus is the most brilliant object in the Ocean. ent systems of identification are used. Ewen A. Whitaker suggests that Riccioli is really trying Continent and ethnic group are identified inventors, and William to tell us that he thought the heliocentric theory was in the gazetteer by “ct” and “et.” This system Gilbert (1540-1603), phy- correct. Credit: , JPL, NASA. September 2004 Planetarian 15 Galileo and several later observers used sys- These catalogues were adopted by the IAU, be seen from the surface of the object, tems of letters, matching letters with descrip- and they are the basis of lunar nomenclature switches to the west side. The tions in their books. that was added later. The S L C maps were awkward name persists. Although many also think that Galileo invaluable in the Apollo Lunar Program. In a view of the moon with its south pole gave the name m a r i a to the moon’s large The NASA Catalog of Nomenclature ( 1 9 8 2 ) , in the center and 0 degrees longitude at the dark basins, he did not. Galileo made a point prepared following the Apollo Lunar Mis- top, such as the mosaic composed of 1500 of writing that he did not believe that the sions, is the updated version of the S L C . images taken in 1994 by the moon was composed of and water ( i n- Apollo Landing Sites are accepted IAU fea- spacecraft’s cameras, one moves clockwise cluding seas, the meaning of the Latin maria). tures. Jonathan McDowell has entered its in- for east lunar longitudes and counterclock- Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) of France first formation into a frequently-updated online wise for west lunar longitudes. applied the Latin terms mare and maria t o database. See http://www.planet4589.org/ Seth Shostak, Public Programs Scientist at the moon’s dark regions. Gassendi never fin- astro/lunar. the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ished his map project, but his notes show the Charles A. , who helped prepare the (SETI) Institute, located in Mountain View, features he called vallis, rupes, and m o n s , S L C maps, explains what has led to some California, notes that the moon was the first terms that are still in use. confusion in some lunar feature designations considered for possible Three lunar observers (Michael Van Lan- today: In 1837 Johann Heinrich Madler (1794- tenants, and that Plutarch made the first gren of Belgium, in 1645; Johannes Hevelius, 1874) and Wilhelm (1797-1850) of speculations. The idea of life on the moon in 1647; and P. Giovanni Riccioli of Italy, in Germany published the first detailed set of became politically unpopular later, when 1651) published maps with competing sys- lunar maps using a 9.5-centimeter refractor. medieval religious authorities declared the tems of lunar nomenclature. Van Langren They resolved many new craters with posi- moon was a perfect and unblemished sphere. used names of European royalty, philoso- tions near larger craters, which already had When the telescope era began, the specula- phers, scientists, mathematicians, patrons, proper names. Madler and Beer gave the new tion on lunar life was revived. explorers, religions leaders, and 14 saints. craters upper-case Roman letters, with “A” stories such as Jules Verne’s From the Earth to Hevelius used classical names of countries, usually being the largest or nearest to the the Moon (1865) and H. G. ’ The First Men seas, and other features, and 16 of his feature named crater, and they applied letters near in the Moon ( 1 9 0 1 ) describe trips by Earth terms are on the IAU Gazetteer list. Riccioli the end of the alphabet to battered craters. explorers, including interesting names, but adopted the personal-name idea of Van The Roman letter designation system for not ones that officially were adopted. Langren, accepting 63 of Van Langren’s craters established by Madler and Beer was names and adding 147 names of people both perpetuated in the S L C maps. Even though Venus Mapped First living and deceased who had a connection the Roman letter system remains official IAU Venus was the first solid body mapped to astronomy. nomenclature, the IAU does not keep track beyond Earth and the Moon. In 1726-1727, Riccioli was a Jesuit priest, obliged in 1651 of it. sixty years before pro- to publicly announce a belief that the Earth Additionally, Madler and Beer gave lower- duced an initial crude map of Mars, Fran- does not move. Riccioli therefore positioned case Greek letters to positive lunar relief fea- cesco of Rome (1662-1729) made features which he named Copernicus, tures such as mountains, ridges, and domes. many sketches of Venus. Bianchini pub- , Moestilinus, Reinholdus, and In their publication for the IAU in 1935, lished a composite Venus map in 1728 in his Aristarchus (along with other features and Muller tabulated the Madler-Beer book Hesperi et Phosphori Nova Phaenomena named for people who believed that the letters. When the SLC maps were made thirty Earth moved around the sun) in the “ocean,” years later, each Greek-lettered feature was Oceanus Procellarum. Curiously, the crater examined and either retained or eliminated, Copernicus is larger than that of Tycho and and many additional features were given the crater Aristarchus is the most brilliant new Greek letters. Recently, when Wood object in the Ocean. As sug- tried to identify all of the lettered craters and gests, it seems that Riccioli was telling poster- peaks on an SLC photograph of a relatively ity in a subtle but graphic way that he uncluttered part of the moon, even though thought the Copernican system really was he had helped to prepare the designations, he correct. could not do it! The specific sequence of More about the development of lunar events that has caused lunar designation names can be found in Whitaker’s outstand- confusion are a) The SLC cartographers did ing book. After the publications of Van Lan- not publish a catalog of the Greek-lettered gren, Hevelius, and Riccioli, lunar nomencla- features to accompany their map; b) The IAU ture was well on its way to its modern form. accepted the S L C maps as the authority on Named Lunar Formations by Mary Blagg features; but, ambiguously, c) the IAU later and Karl Muller was published in 1935, the totally abandoned Greek-lettered features. of Venus. Between 1990 first lunar publication of the IAU Nomencla- , well known English and 1994 the Magellan spacecraft ture Committee following the IAU’s forma- author of many popular astronomy books used radar to penetrate Venus’ thick clouds. As if we are looking down tion in 1922. The publication contained the and discoverer of Mare Orientale in the beneath the clouds, we here observe first complete and official listing of lunar 1930s, co-named Mare Orientale together directly over Venus’ North Pole. The nomenclature. The System of with H.P. Wilkins. Moore explains that Mare bright area seen below the central North Pole in this photograph is (SLC), quadrants I, II, III, IV was published in Orientale now is a misnomer. Orientale Maxwell Montes, Venus’ highest sections by D.W.G. Arthur and others means “east,” and Mare Orientale is on the mo untain. Maxwell Montes was between 1963 and 1966, under the direction east side of the moon as seen in the sky from named for James Clerk Maxwell, the only man with a namesake on Venus. of Gerard P. (1905-1973). Later they Earth. But IAU policy, which names the All other features on Venus have fem- were republished as Lunar Quadrant Maps. moon and planet directions as they would inine names. Credit: SSV, MIPL, Magel- lan Team, NASA.

16 Planetarian September 2004 sive Observationes circa planetam Venerix. names (Fear) and Bianchini mistook markings for permanent (Panic) from the atten- surface features, from which he incorrectly dants of the war god Mars, determined the length of Venus’ day and the described in the fifteenth book orientation of its rotational axis. of Homer’s I l i a d . The names Bianchini made a Venus chart in gores, were suggested to Hall by Henry which he intended to be cut out and pasted Madan (1838-1901), Science on a to make a globe. The gores include Master of Eton in Eton, England. names for dark patches which Bianchini (Incidentally, Henry Madan was thought were seas. Bianchini’s Venus geogra- the great-uncle of Venetia phy commemorated scientific institutions Burney, who proposed the in Paris and Bologna, as well as explorers, name of Pluto for the ninth monarchs, and astronomers. He named a planet.) “sea” for Magellan at Venus’ South Pole. The second Mars naming Today we identify Bianchini’s “sea” patches event of 1877 was the publica- as clouds. Newer Venus maps were published tion of a map by Giovanni at Columbia Memorial Station. Three days in the 1800s, still giving the mistaken impres- Schiaparelli (1835-1910) of Italy. after the (MER) Spirit landed successfully on Mars, plans were initiated sion that Venus markings are surface features This map was the first with to give the name of the Columbia Memorial visible with optical telescopes. c a n a l i , features criss-crossing Station to the landing site. The Spirit carried a 15- Percival Lowell (1855-1916) drew a Venus Mars. Schiaparelli did not first centimeter plaque, mounted on the back of its high-gain antenna, honoring the astronauts who map with names he created himself. The give the name of canali to these were lost in the STS-107 mission. NASA Admini- map appeared in Popular Astronomy i n features; they were first report- strator Sean O’Keefe remarked, “As team members gazed at Mars through Spirit’s eyes, the Columbia December, 1896. Most of Lowell’s linear fea- ed and named in 1869 by Father memorial appeared in images returned to Earth, a tures appear to radiate from a central spot Pietro (1818-1878), also of fitting tribute to their own spirit and dedica- that he named “Bilit.” Lowell thought that Italy. In 1879 Secchi also first tion.” This picture, taken on the 16th sol of Spirit’s time on Mars (January, 2004), looks north- three shaded arcs he detected were moun- noted the existence of joined east over the platform and deflated tains. canali. Affirmed by Schiaparelli, airbags to hills that are about 3 kilometers away. Lowell and his Flagstaff colleagues also both Secchi and Schiaparelli Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA. recorded linear features on Mercury, Mars, thought the joined canali w e r e and Jupiter’s satellite Ganymede. The lines the result of seasonal changes which Lowell included on his Venus map on Mars. They referred to their observed Some features on Mars recently have been were rejected more vehemently by astron- joined c a n a l i as “gemination.” The c a n a l i , named for the three members of the Apollo I omers at other institutions than lines drawn which means “channels” in Italian, created a crew who died in the fire at Kennedy Space on the Flagstaff maps of Mercury, Mars, and sensational public image of intelligent Center, Florida, on January 27, 1967. Ganymede. Ironically, in comparing Lowell’s life when c a n a l e (singular) and On January 27, 2004, the Mars rover Spirit 1896 drawing of Venus with a Pioneer Venus canali (plural) were interpreted in the English in Crater looked west to three nearby image, we see a strong similarity. The Y- language as canals holding water. Today per- hills, White Hill, Grissom Hill, and Chaffee shaped pattern in clouds opening to the ceptual psychologists, noting how both the Hill. The Apollo I Hills could be seen along a west, which is even more obvious in ultravi- human eye and cameras perceive astronomi- north-south line, between 7.5 kilometers and olet light, is what Lowell apparently saw. cal details, explain the mechanisms for the 14.3 kilometers from the rover. observed but nonexistent surface canali with On January 28, 2004, NASA announced Mars: A Few Details a high degree of confidence. plans to name the landing site of the Mars With so many new Martian details To map Mars as he saw it, Schiaparelli cre- Opportunity rover in honor of the Space observed recently by the Orbiter, Odyssey, ated many new names, diverging from Shuttle Challenger’s final crew. The area in and MER cameras, the IAU may feel pressure names proposed by Camille Flammarion where Opportunity land- to accelerate the naming process on Mars. (1842-1925), who had just finished a Martian ed, on the opposite side of Mars from the We can speculate on the futures of the many map. Schiaparelli explained that he needed Apollo I Hills, will be called Challenger NASA-named rocks that have been cut and to create a new nomenclature system to Memorial Station. photographed by MER rovers Spirit and show features that had not been seen before. The Gusev Crater landing site was renam- Opportunity. Will the rocks someday be Among Schiaparelli’s 20 canali names, we ed Columbia Memorial Station (see illustra- picked up and claimed for Martian museums find Ganges, Indus, Nilosyrtis, Triton, Lethe, tion above). once there is a human presence on the Red Nilus, Hercules Columna, and Phison. Planet? Will the rocks be left in place with Although Schiaparelli modestly noted that Two IAU Working Groups protective barriers and identifying plaques? he did not ask that his system be approved In addition to the Working Group for Will the rocks be ignored and disappear from by astronomers, many of his names other Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), records when people colonize a region, as than the canali still are used today. Two ex- there is an IAU Committee on Small Body geological features have disappeared on ceptions are and Olympus Nomenclature. This second committee deals Earth? Mons. Valles Marineris was known on Schia- with the assignment of temporary and per- In 1877 two events important to Martian parelli maps as Agathadaemon. Schiaparelli manent names of newly discovered minor nomenclature occurred when Mars came to gave the name of Nix Olympica to what is planets (asteroids) and , based on the a perihelion , a distance of only 35 now . The complete story of information maintained at the IAU Minor million from Earth. The first was the early Martian maps and the people who Planet Center. Brian Marsden is the director discovery (at the United States Naval Obser- made them can be found in the book T h e of the , maintained at vatory) and naming of the Martian Planet Mars by William Sheehan. the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astro- by Asaph Hall (1829-1907). Hall selected physics.

September 2004 Planetarian 17 Minor Planets (Asteroids) name for an , write to: namingcam- (5391) Emmons. This asteroid was provision- More than 250,000 minor planets (aster- [email protected]. ally 1985 RE2, so it was another case, like 1993 oids) have been discovered to date, with dis- Minor planets that have been observed FR for Fred Rogers, of Marsden selecting it coveries greatly accelerated by the recent on two or more nights are given provisional because of particular initials. Helin was successes of the LINEAR, NEAT, Spacewatch, designations that consist of a designation aware of satellite observations my father had and other search programs incorporating with the year of observation, the upper-case made that helped to prove that the near- wide-field, multiple-night, CCD coverage of code letter identifying the halfmonth of space environment is safe for human explo- the sky. Of these 250,000, 85,117 have ade- observation during that year, and a consecu- ration and that he had “inspired many peo- quate orbit determinations to qualify for tive capital letter to show the order of dis- ple who have become very well known [in naming. Only a relatively small percent of covery announcement during that half- astronomy] in their own right.” In 2000 the those with known actually have been month, which is sequenced through the IAU officially named (5391) Emmons with named: 11,302 alphabet as many times as necessary. the citation: “Richard Emmons (b 1919), Each minor planet first gets a provisional Further details on the provisional naming emeritus professor of physics at Ohio’s Kent code, then a final number once the orbit has system for minor planets are given below in State University, had his interest in astrono- been determined, and finally (for many) a the section “Nomenclature Chaos at the my sparked by an article published soon proper name that is attached to the final Edge of the Solar System.” Minor planets and after the discovery of 1932 HA, now (1862) number. Michael A’Hearn, a former chair of objects (KBOs)/trans-Neptunian Apollo. He was an early observer of artificial the IAU Committee on Small Body Nomen- objects (TNOs) are united into one large satellites.” In a congratulatory letter follow- clature (which used to be called the Small group in the provisional naming system. ing the IAU announcement, Helin wrote to Body Names Committee), notes that quite a Many times a newly-sighted object is fol- my father, “Enjoy your namesake from ‘here variety of names have been suggested for lowed for about a month, providing data to to eternity’.” and approved for minor planets from many determine a fairly-accurate orbit. When the Examining the list of minor planets with different sources, including children’s heroes, orbit has been determined to a set precision proper names, we find quite a few scientists. pop culture and classical music. The recent- standard, the object’s status is recognized A sample includes: (2001) , (1691) ly-named Misterrogers for US television leg- with a permanent number.. For ten years Oort, (4987) Flamsteed, (4804) , (4674) end Fred Rogers is an example of inclusion of after it receives a permanent number, the Pauling, (7008) Pavlov, and (12294) Avo- a famous cultural name. minor planet’s discoverer has an option to gadro. Isaac (1920-1992) and Carl Rules for the proper name of a minor suggest a proper official name.. Anyone may (1934-1996), important popularizers of planet (asteroid) are: 16 letters or less; nothing suggest a name to the discoverer within that science in the second half of the twentieth offensive; if a military or political name, ten years or to the committee directly in fol- century, also have namesake asteroids, (5020) then the person must be deceased for at least lowing years, and there is no fee! (It seems Asimov and (2709) Sagan. Musician-named 100 years; no pets; no confusing spellings or ironic that a name received in this way is asteroids are an important subset, including pronunciations; and no names too similar to free, as one considers the hefty charges of (1814) Bach, (1815) , and (1818) present asteroid names. The suggested name companies selling stars.) A brief citation of along with the much more recent and a brief defense of it go to the IAU’s why the nominator believes the person or English group, the Beatles. Asteroid (4150) Committee on Small Body Nomenclature, entity is worthy of the name is submitted to Starr, for example, is named for Beatle Ringo which must make the final approval. (See the IAU Committee with the nomination. Starr. h t t p : / / w w w . s s . a s t r o . u m d . e d u / I A U / c s b n / m p n The name and citation are placed on a list, Marsden says, “I’m happy to see imagina- ames.shtml. If you would like to suggest a and every two months the Committee tive names … It doesn’t have to be serious. If reviews submissions. The committee’s 15 it is somewhat entertaining, that’s great. members work mostly by E-mail, says mem- Some of the best names are whimsical …” ber Donald Yeomans; and members usually The citation for Ringo Starr’s asteroid states provide one of three standard responses: that he is “a Liverpudlian of lively personali- “Yes,” “no,” or “heck no.” Usually a majority ty and deadpan humor who occasionally sat vote prevails, but three “heck no’s” will elim- in as drummer with the Beatles during the inate a submission. early days in Hamburg.” Following a suggestion from Planetarium The seven members of the last crew of the Director John G. Radzilowicz at the Buhl Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107), which dis- Planetarium in Pittsburgh, where Fred Rogers integrated during reentry on February 1, (1928-2003) had his long-running children’s 2003, are immortalized with asteroids, all television series, Marsden searched for an with orbits in the region between Mars and asteroid with the code letters FR for Fred Jupiter, all also discovered by Eleanor Helin. Ida and Dactyl. While en route to Rogers. Marsden found it in an asteroid dis- Names honor Commander Rick Husband, Jupiter in 1994, the Galileo spacecraft passed close to the minor planet (243) covered by Eleanor Helin on March 21, 1993. pilot William McCool, Mission Specialists Ida and discovered that it has a tiny So asteroid M i s t e r r o g e r s was identified with Michael , Kalpana Chawla, David moon. The members of the Galileo the asteroid having the provisional name of , and Laurel , and Israeli payload Mission’s imaging and teams recommended the moon name Dactyl 1993 FR. And the new name became (26858) specialist Ilan Ramon. NASA made the to the IAU, which was approved six Misterrogers or Misterrogers 26858. announcement in August, 2003 and with months later. The Dactyli were a group of creatures in classical - I am personally acquainted with the nam- IAU approval, also in August, 2003, the astro- ology, who either lived on Mount Ida ing procedure for a minor planet, as my naut-named asteroids were added to the offi- or who were the children of Ida by father Richard Emmons had one named for cial list. Zeus. (243) Ida is about 58 kilometers long and 22 kilometers wide, while him a few years ago. Eleanor Helin, in consul- The IAU also approves names for satellites tiny Dactyl is only 1.6 kilometers tation with Marsden, suggested that a minor of asteroids and features on asteroids. The wide. Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, planet she had discovered in 1985 be named first of an asteroid, the aster- NASA.

18 Planetarian September 2004 oid (243) Ida, was found while data was ana- who each observed the comet. lated revolution period longer than 30 years. lyzed in March, 1994, by members of the Comet P/-Levy 9, whose frag- The designation P/2005 D3 would be applied Galileo Mission’s imaging and infrared ments bombarded Jupiter, gave us one of the to the third comet in the second half of teams. The project recommended the name main astronomical spectacles of the Twen- February, 2005, if it had a calculated revolu- Dactyl to the IAU, which was approved six tieth Century. Planetarians attending the tion period of less than 30 years. If a hypo- months later. That name comes from July, 1994, IPS Conference at Cocoa Beach, thetical comet P/2005 D3 were observed dur- “Dactyli,” a group of creatures in classical Florida, will remember televised pictures of ing 50 perihelion passages, it would then be mythology, who either lived on Mount Ida the first of the fragment impacts coinciding 50P/2005 D3. or were the children of Ida by Zeus. with the close of the conference. Co-named To be considered a “discovery,” the The first IAU-approved asteroid surface for Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker (Eugene, observer must confirm the comet sighting features were for (951) Gaspra, visited by the 1928-1997) and David Levy, and also known with additional observations on following Galileo spacecraft in 1991. Three regions on as 1993e, the comet fragmented into 21 nights. After confirmation, the observer Gaspra were named for scientists associated known pieces when it approached Jupiter. sends an E-mail to the Smithsonian Astro- with the asteroid. Neujmin Regio was named Upper-case letters were assigned to each of physical Observatory. Reported comets are for Grigoriy Neujmin (1886-1946), the the individual pieces, and pictures of Jupiter compared with data lists of known objects to Ukrainian astronomer who discovered Gas- showed the signature of the pieces impact- see if the comet really is a new discovery. pra in 1916. Yeates Regio honors Clayne M. ing Jupiter with successive “ black eyes.” It is acceptable for an object to be desig- Yeates, Galileo Science Manager until his A detailed resolution to change the comet nated as both a comet and a minor planet. death in 1991, and Dunne Regio recognizes designation system to one that more closely This applies primarily to objects that have James A. Dunne, who served as Galileo resembles the minor planets system was been given a permanent number, like the Science and Mission Design Manager until adopted by the IAU General Assembly in 85,117 minor planets with good, multiple- late 1992. August, 2002. Instead of the year/letter and opposition orbits. Brian Marsden points out year/Roman numeral systems of the past that the following objects now have dual sta- Comets (where the Roman numeral was for the order tus: (2060) Chiron (1977UB) = comet Comets are named for their discoverers (or of perihelion passage), a new comet discov- 95P/Chiron; (4015) Wilson-Harrington (1979 for the identification of periodic comets, ery now receives a designation with the year VA = comet 107P/1949 (Wilson-Harrington); such as Halley’s Comet). Many amateurs of observation, the upper-case code letter and 7968) Elst-Pizarro = 133P/1996 N2 (Elst- have gained fame by discovering one or identifying the halfmonth of observation Pizarro). The part of the name of these dual- more comets. Until August, 1994, each new during that year, and a consecutive numeral status objects representing their provisional comet was designated by the year of its dis- to indicate the order of discovery announce- minor planet status will be discussed with covery, followed by a lower case letter for ment during that halfmonth. For example KBOs or TNOs within the later section the order in which it was discovered that the third comet discovery reported during “Nomenclature Chaos at the Edge of the year. Comet 1983d was the fourth comet dis- the second half of February 2005 would be Solar System”. covered in 1983 and was named Comet IRAS- designated 2005 D3. (See http://www.cfa.har- Araki-Alcock for the vard.edu.iau/lists/CometResolution.html.) Meteorites Satellite (IRAS) and the two astronomers The particular of a cometary Jeffrey Grossman, current chair of the object may be indicated by an International Meteorite Nomenclature initial prefix. The prefix A/ Committee, summarizes the IAU system of should precede a comet designa- names: All meteorites are named for geo- tion which has been found to graphic features near a particular find or fall really be a minor planet since its site, commonly towns, streams, mountains, discovery (unless, as usually hap- and lakes. If there are not enough features to pens in practice, the comet- name all the meteorites from an area, a geo- minor planet is assigned a name graphic name is selected and numbers are reflecting its dual status). C/ is appended to form a series. attached to a periodic comet In and in a part of the Sahara, defined to have a revolution peri- both of which are productive sites or od of more than 30 years or con- “strewnfields,” the numbers following the firmed observations at more location name are the 2-digit expedition- than one perihelion passage. P/ is year plus a 3-4 digit specimen sequence num- given to a comet with a revolu- ber. In the rest of the Sahara, Oman, Western tion period of less than 30 years, US, and , the numbers do not X/ goes to a comet that cannot include the year; only the sequence number, have a meaningful orbit comput- as in “Dhofer 321,” where Dhofer is the loca- Comet NEAT and Coronal Ejection. Comet ed, and D/ is for a periodic (P/) tion, and this specimen is number 321 found NEAT, officially designated C/2002 V1, was dis- comet that not longer exists or is there. In the Hammada al Hamra section of covered on November 6, 2002. The discovery was the Sahara, the first meteorite found on the part of the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) judged to have disappeared. If the program, which employs a 1.2-meter comet return is observed, the P/ Hammada al Hamra plateau received the telescope at Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii. On or C/ is preceded by a sequential designation Hammada al Hamra 001 (HaH February 18, 2003, when this picture was taken 001) and the most recent, the one-hundred- with the orbiting SOHO satellite, the tail of number of the number of certain C/2002 V1 and an enormous solar coronal mass returns. The designation C/2005 forty-sixth, is Hammada al Hamra 146. ejection seemed to be synchronized. C/2002 V1 D3 would be used for the third Ralph Harvey of Case Western University was then second magnitude, bright enough to create an artificial horizontal streak on the comet in the second half of in Cleveland, Ohio, gathers meteorites in image. A disk artificially blocks the sun. Credit: February, 2005, if it had a calcu- Antarctica. Harvey notes that a meteorite SOHO Consortium, LASCO, ESA, NASA. found in Antarctica’s Allan Hills gets what

September 2004 Planetarian 19 have seen quite a few pieces of some astronomers began using the designa- industrial slag which look like tion “Edgeworth-Kuiper objects” (EKOs or meteorites. If you are unable to EKBs) for objects in the belt beyond Neptune. differentiate between mete- A 1930 prediction by Frederick C. Leonard of orites and “meteor wrongs,” it the outer belt was brought to light in 2000 is best to contact an expert at a by Brian Marsden, and the term “Leonard- university near to your plane- Edgeworth-Kuiper belt object” (LEKB) was tarium. To obtain a number for then applied. Some astronomers suggested an individual meteorite, that it would be advisable to discontinue (which it needs in order to be using people’s names, changing the distant mentioned in a journal article) objects’ designation to “trans-Neptunian you are invited to contact Sara objects (TNOs). Currently KBO and TNO are S. , Dept. of Mineralogy, used interchangeably, although the term Natural History Museum, “trans-Neptunian object or “transneptunian London, at the e-mail address: object” (TNO) is gaining acceptance. The [email protected]. A schol- Scientific Organizing Committee of the arly application for a meteorite European Southern Observatory (ESO) ALH84001 meteorite. This famous meteorite, offi- name also can be found on the Workshop on “Minor Bodies in the Outer cially named “Allan Hills 84001,” was the first web page: http://www.uark Solar System” held in Garching, Germany, in (001) meteorite found in Antarctica’s Allan Hills during the 1984-85 gathering season. All scientists . e d u / c a m p u s - r e s o u r c e s / m e t s o c / 1998, specifically recommended the term agree that ALH84001 came from Mars because gas bullform.htm. TNO over the term KBO and other designa- pockets within it and similar meteorites have an tions. Those who propose the change from isotope composition that is identical to that in the Nomenclature Chaos at Martian . But there is strong disagree- KBO to TNO probably know that Kuiper did ment on whether ALH84001 contains evidence of the Edge of the Solar not predict any object like those we actually tiny past Martian life. Credit: JSC, NASA. System observe. Kuiper speculated that a circular A few years ago the classifica- ring of comets beyond 50 AU and a couple of he terms “a convenience designation” (that tion of Pluto as a legitimate planet came very large asteroids (like ) beyond 38 is, not an IAU-sanctioned name) of AH com- under attack, and the debate continues. AU might exist. However, he did not foresee bined with its southern-summer find date. Instead of a planet, Pluto may be a “KBO,” or a multitude of small minor planets beyond “AH 84” denotes that the meteorite was as become more accepted, a “TNO.” Pluto’s Neptune. Kuiper once remarked that it found in the austral summer gathering sea- satellite Charon may also be a KBO/TNO. would be ‘puzzling’ if there ‘were asteroidal son of 1984-1985. Harvey notes that a In the 1950s, predicted that bodies’ beyond 30 AU. Japanese “convenience designation” for an a belt of objects near the plane of the ecliptic Further complicating classifications, Antarctica meteorite is a single alphabetic existed beyond Neptune. In 1992, the first TNOs that have a 2:3 orbital resonance with character (such as Y for Yamato Mountains) such anticipated body was found and Neptune are called “.” Still another instead of the two or three letters used by US astronomers used the term “Kuiper belt division, “cubewanos” (a term derived from collectors in Antarctica. object” (KBO). sounding out the letters and number of TNO Famous meteorite “ALH 84001” is official- Then it was learned that in 1943, prior to 1992 QB1), are objects of a division of TNO ly “Allan Hills 84001”. It was found in the Kuiper, astronomer Kenneth Edgeworth that remain in the main belt, never traveling Allan Hills in December, 1984, and it hap- (1880-1972) had made a similar prediction. So inside Neptune’s orbit. Cubewanos are con- pened to be selected as the first (001) among fined to a belt of 42-47 astronomical units the hundreds of specimens gathered that sea- from the sun, with eccentricities of less than son. ALH 84001, with an original mass of 1.93 about 0.15. The term “classical KBO” some- kilograms, was first classified as one of the times is meant to be synonymous with SNC meteorites (with mineral compositions “cubewanos”. Another group, “scattered disk of shergotite, , and chassigny). More objects” (SDOs) have more eccentric orbits. recently this group is simply referenced as For naming purposes all TNOs/KBOs are “the Martian meteorites”, because, unlike the considered minor planets. All minor planets others in the SNC group, ALH 84001 lacks receive provisional names (before getting the SNC minerals. ALH 84001 not only has final numbers and possible proper names) been identified as Martian, but its probable that include two capital Roman letters. This location of origin on Mars has been found as Pluto and Charon. This image of is different from comet provisional names well. Since August, 1996, ALH 84001 has been Pluto and its large satellite Charon was taken by the Hubble Space Tele- that receive only one capital Roman letter. the focus of a hot debate over whether or scope on February 21, 1994. Pluto was The first discovered KBO/TNO received the not it carries evidence of simple past Martian discovered by at Lowell Observatory in 1930, and provisional name 1992 QB1. This designation life. Charon was discov ered by James shows the year, the halfmonth, and the order If two or more numbered meteorites later Christy in 1978 at the U. S. Naval of discovery in the halfmonth. For each are found to be paired, their names are not Observatory. Pluto is named for the god of the underworld and Charon is month the “second half” is defined as begin- changed. The groups are then referred to col- named for the ferryman who crosses ning at 16d 00h and 00m Universal Time lectively by the lowest specimen number, the river Styx. In addition, Pluto hon- (UT). The first letter, such as the Q in 1992 the most widely studied piece number, or ors Percival Lowell, who funded searches for the planet. Charon some- QB1 (and also as in a comet designation such the largest piece number. times is pronounced “Sharon,” honor- as 2005 D3), defines the halfmonth. A first Most of us in planetarium positions have ing James Christy’s wife Charlene, nick-named “Char”. Credit: NASA, letter of A denotes the first half of January, a met a visitor who wants to know if a particu- ESA/ESO Space Telescope European B denotes the second half of January, a C lar rock is a meteorite. Perhaps like me, you Coordinating Facility.

20 Planetarian September 2004 denotes the first half of February, and a D Over 800 TNOs have been discovered. The Catalog numbers with a total denotes the second half of February. The let- Some of the larger TNOs have proper names of 103 objects (or 107, 109, or 110, depending ter J denotes the first half of May and a letter suggested by their discoverers, which the on which of the later additions one accepts) K denotes the second half of May, because IAU rules should be creation gods. The dis- applied by (1730-1817) in the the letter I is omitted to avoid confusion coverers of 1992 QB1 suggested “Smiley,” for late 18th century is the most popular naming with the letter J. (In some old publications dark world spies in books by author John Le system for deep sky objects. Finding new the letter J was omitted and the letter I was Carre. If Pluto and Charon are TNOs, they are comets was Messier’s astronomical passion. retained.) The letter Q, as in 1992 QB1, the largest and third largest ones, respective- Messier compiled a list of fixed sky objects so denotes the second half of August. The letter ly. The second largest TNO is 2004 DW. that he would not mistake them for comets. Y is the designation for a minor planet or The TNO (50000) Quaoar, discovered in Many of the so-called Messier objects had TNO found in the second half of December. 2002, was given the provisional designation been discovered before Messier; sometimes As with I, the letter Z is not used as a first let- of 2002 LM60. Its discoverers proposed the their earlier identification was unknown to ter for the TNO/minor planet designations proper name of Quaoar for a creation god of him. Messier’s colleague Pierre Mechain designation. The 24 letters used gives a total the Native American Tongva tribe, the origi- (1744-1804) found many of the Messier of 24 halfmonths. nal inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin. objects. Messier gave Mechain proper credit The second letter in the minor planet/ Quaoar, the god, was said to instill order by for his discoveries. TNO designation, such as the B in 1992 QB1, laying out the world on the back of seven Messier’s list contains most of the bright it denotes the order of discovery within the giants before creating the lower animals and nonstellar objects in the northern two-thirds halfmonth. The second letter system, like . Quaoar, the TNO, is about half the of the celestial sphere. Most amateur astrono- the first letter, also excludes the letter I but diameter of Pluto and is larger than Ceres, mers who become interested in viewing here includes the letter Z, so there could be the largest minor planet. deep-sky objects begin with the Messier list. 25 designated objects with a given year and a A number of TNOs are about 1000 km in A good web site for the Messier (M) objects in given halfmonth that receive only two let- diameter: (20,000) Varuna, provisionally des- order, 1-110, along with their popular names, ters. ignated 2000 WR106 (found in 2000, and constellation location, and other informa- If more than 25 minor planets and TNOs named for an important pre-Vedic god in tion is http://www.rclarke.org.uk/messier2 altogether are found for a given year and a Hindu mythology, the keeper of the cosmos .htm. given halfmonth, the 26th object is designat- and the keeper of cosmic order); Ixion, provi- Most planetarians know that M1 is “the ed QA1, the 27th object is QB1, continuing to sionally designated 2001 KX76 (found in ,” M31 is “the Andromeda Gal- QZ1. After that come QA2, QB2…QZ2, etc. 2001 and named for the classical father of axy,” and M44 is the Praesepe or “the Bee- Often many objects are found during half a the Centaur tribe); and three other provi- hive” (identified as a cloud by Ptolemy, but month. For example 2003 VB12 is the provi- sionally designated objects—2002 TX300, shown by Galileo’s telescope to be stars sional name of the 302nd object found in the 2002 UX 25, and 2002 AW197. instead of a cloud.) However, we can expand first half of November, 2003. At the Minor The recently-discovered object called Planet Center, Marsden says that in some Sedna, an sea goddess, lies beyond the halfmonths they have cycled the second let- Kuiper belt. Sedna, as yet an unofficial name, ter through the alphabet more than 300 is well in from the , but it is too times, representing more than 7500 objects. far out to be a scattered-disk object (SDO). Following IAU minor planet rules, Sedna has the designation of 2003 VB12. Oort cloud objects are more distant from the sun than TNOs, and they are not limited to the plane of the ecliptic like TNOs are.

Deep Sky Objects Deep sky objects include star clusters, neb- ulae, galaxies, and . Deep sky objects are those beyond the solar system which can be studied well only with telescopes, although some are faintly visible with the unaided eye. Many are visible in a variety of PKS285-02. In this photographed by the Hubble Space , and most have multiple list- Telescope we see H-alpha carbon ings. The website http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (which composes all living things) Sedna. This is an artistic depiction of a d c / q u i c k _ r e f / c o m m o n _ n a m e s . h t m l # t o p ) created by a former star, Sedna, the unofficial Inuit ocean- together with a central core fading goddess name of an object discovered lists 426 sources, some to a white dwarf. The category name in November, 2003, by Michael Brown different volumes of the same catalog, some of “planetary nebula” is misleading, of the California Institute of Tech- as the shapes of planetary nebulae nology, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini of stars and variable stars mentioned earlier, almost never resemble planets. All Observatory in Hawaii, and David and some for solar system objects. However, planetary nebula have official names Rabinowitz of Yale University. Fol- many of the catalogs are for deep sky objects. such as PKS285-02, which are catalog lowing IAU minor-planet naming designations. However the particular rules, the object is 2003 VB12. It is The same deep sky object, listed in different intricate appearance of a nebula, like three times farther from Earth than catalogues, gets different names. The situa- a cloud formation or cave stalactites Pluto, taking 10,500 years to revolve tion of multiple names for deep sky objects is and stalagmites, often inspires some- about the sun. Sedna/2003 VB12 is one to apply a “cute” name. Perhaps about three-fourths the diameter of like that of multiple names for stars and members of planetarium audiences Pluto and the second reddest object other objects — it is confusing!. Fortunately would enjoy thinking of a visual in the solar system, second only to analogy for PKS285-02. Credit: R. Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/R. web-site references usually give multiple Sahai & J Trauger (JPL), WFPC2, HST, Hurt (SSC-Caltech). names for a given deep sky object. NASA.

September 2004 Planetarian 21 our vocabulary of creative nicknames for “Ghost of Jupiter,” “Coat hanger Cluster,” Feldmeier notes that both professional and the Messier objects (unofficial names, of “Silver Coin Galaxy,” and “Inkspot,” all inter- amateur astronomers frequently use ab- course) by referring to the above website. esting descriptive names one might mention breviated or unofficial names in their day-to- The list offered here reveals that M64 in in planetarium programs. See http://www. day conversations about their work. is “the Sleeping Beauty” or geocities.com/rasctb/objnames.htm. Another Regardless, astronomers adhere to IAU names “the Blackeye” Galaxy. A wonderful photo- site listing a large number of common names in papers and journals. graphic montage of M64 appears on p. 19 of or “nicknames” for deep sky objects along Often newly-discovered planetary nebulae the May, 2004, issue of Sky & Telescope, desig- with their official designations, maintained receive official names based on their discov- nated as “the Blackeye Galaxy.” The unusual by the Grasslands Observatory, is http:// erers. For example, when astronomers photograph was created by the Hubble www.3towers.com/miscella.htm. George Jacoby and Laura Fulton found plan- Heritage Project using blue, green, red, and Astronomers differ in their disposition etary nebulae in the , the nebu- near-infrared light. toward the deep-object nicknames. Astro- lae were named JaFu1, JaFu2, etc. M17 is variously the “,” physicist James Kaler prefers the official des- The of Nebulae and “Swan Nebula,” “Horseshoe Nebula, or “Lob- ignations, judging that way too many “cute” Clusters of Stars (NGC) was published by John ster Nebula,” while M76 is the “Butterfly names are applied. It appears that some feel L. E. (1852-1926) in 1888. The NGC was Nebula, “Little ,” “Cork compelled to give a jazzy name to almost the work of the father-and-son astronomers Nebula,” or “Barbell Nebula.” every interesting new object found by the William and John Herschel, and surely Wil- John Bakkelund has a favorite list of imag- HST, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and liam’s sister Caroline Herschel (1750-1848), inative but unofficial names for astronomi- other space tele- cal objects beyond the Messier objects, which scopes. And this, planetarians might find useful, for the same says Kaler, dimin- reason that he lists them: “… they add color ishes the dignity to interesting objects that have dull cata- of astronomy. logue names.” In Bakkelund’s list we find Astronomer John

Galactic Center. There are a total of 17 Messier objects and other telescopic objects in the region of Sagittarius and the . The sky is a 30-minute exposure on Ektachrome 400 film taken from Cerro Tololo, Chile, using a Canon 50mm lens wide open at f/1.8. North is at the top. The photograph spans an area of about 27 by 40 degrees. We see the intricate absorbing dust lanes that block the actual galactic center and the yellow color of old stars, dimmed to brown where the s strong reddening by inter- stellar dust. Since this film has a response to the red light of H-alpha from emission nebulae, the many H II regions are clearly seen. The largest telescopes used by Messier while looking into the Galactic Center and elsewhere were 190-mm and 200-mm reflectors. But the speculum mirrors of those telescopes would have had the equivalent light gathering power of present-day 80- to 100-mm reflectors. Alan Dyer points out (Observer’s Handbook, The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada) that a modern observer should be able to see all the Messier objects, in the direction of the Galactic Center and across the celestial sphere, with a dark sky and either an 80-mm refractor or a 100-mm reflector. Credit: William C. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa), Cerro Tololo, Chile.

22 Planetarian September 2004 who observed in the eighteenth and nine- teenth centuries. The Dreyer/Herschel NGC contains a total of 7,840 objects that are not single stars. Objects are numbered in order of right ascension based on an 1860 epoch. With subsequent publications in 1895 and 1908 (the Catalogues, abbreviated IC), Dreyer listed 13,226 objects — almost every non-point like telescopic object beyond the solar system visible with a 30-centimeter telescopes from a backyard observing loca- tion having slight to moderate pollution. Some other important catalog systems for deep sky objects include the ESO (European Southern Observatory), IR (Infrared Astro- nomical Satellite), Mrk (Markarian), and UGC (Uppsala General Catalog). The numbers which follow the letter designation can indi- cate either the order in the list or the loca- WMAP. An analysis of this high-resolution map of microwave radiation from the tion. orbiting Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) in 2003 shows, together The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database with other important cosmological ideas, that the universe is 13.7 old (NED) contains positions, basic data, and (accurate to 1 percent) and that it currently is expanding at the rate of 71 kilome- ters/second/megaparsec (accurate to 5 percent). The name “,” now almost a over 1,275,000 identifications for 767 extra- household expression, was first used by astronomer Fred Hoyle in radio presenta- galactic objects, references to 33,000 pub- tions in Great Britain during the late 1940s. Although with WMAP astronomers lished papers, 37,000 notes from catalogues have found a superior estimate of the time since the Big Bang, no one can find a bet- ter name for the start of the universe. Credit: WMAP Science Team, NASA. and other publications, 1,200,000 photomet- ric measurements, and 500,000 position (Index Catalogue) is under way. One can Sagan, “Here’s nothing that even approaches measurements NED has 15,500 abstracts of access the NGC/IC Project site at www.ngcic the phrase ‘Big Bang’ in felicity … The idea of articles about extragalactic objects and is far .com to find summaries of several thousand space-time and matter expanding together more complete in extra galactic objects than puzzle solutions by principal investigators and not ‘into’ anything may be permanently is SIMBAD, although SIMBAD now also car- Harold Corwin and Malcolm Thomson. Also, beyond reach in the universe of short and ries extragalactic as well as galactic data.. German amateur astronomer Wolfgang lucid phrases.” (Since NED began in 1988, and SIMBAD Steinicke has compiled a Revised NGC/IC began incorporating extragalactic data in with exact positions, catalog data, and table Some Final Thoughts 1983, one could peruse SIMBAD if interested of biographical information on the original And so we reach the end of a very long in extragalactic literature for the years 1983- 160 contributors to the NGC and IC. look at how celestial objects are named. 1988.) A big advantage of NED is that it is Naming seems to be a human need, or at accessible without charge or password to all The Big Bang least a result of the way the human mind at nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu. The simple name of “the Big Bang” for the functions. Naming also heightens our per- Another major astronomical data base for origin of the universe is used by all astron- ception of human importance in the scheme extragalactic information is the Lyon- omers. Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) introduced the of things. Percival Lowell remarked, “Nam- Meudon Extragalactic Database (), cre- term in a series of popular radio talks in the ing a thing is Man’s nearest approach to cre- ated in 1983. LEDA has finding charts of in Great Britain in the late 1940s. Ironically, ating it.” Somehow our involvement makes galaxies at almost any scale. These and more Hoyle probably intended the term to be the thing we name more meaningful. specialized data from LEDA also are free to derogatory, a put-down to arguments given Early cultures kept the terrors of night all at www.skylab.com.au/leda.html. by George Gamow (1904-1968) for a sudden darkness and the unknown away by giving The NGC/IC Project currently is trying to beginning of the universe. Hoyle retaliated names to the constellations. As they clear up identification problems relating to with “the Steady State Universe” theory. attached names over time people became both stars and deep sky objects. Amateur Proposed in 1948 by Hoyle, Bondi, more comfortable with the universe and astronomers find the NGC to be a very im- and Thomas Gold, The Steady State Universe more accepting of its objects. When people portant source. But, as Steve Gottlieb notes, has no beginning. When cosmic microwave categorize an object, the act may create a “A staggering 15 to 20 percent of all NGC background radiation was discovered in 1965 feeling of understanding, even though actual entries have known or potential identifica- by Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias (for understanding does not exist. tion problems – poor positions, misidentifi- which they received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Proper names resonate with particular cations, duplicate entries, incorrect classifica- physics), predicted by George Gamow, Ralph meanings, adding a motivational aspect to tions, and confusion with single or multiple Alpher, and Robert Herman in 1948-49, the learning astronomy. Justifying his names for stars or even Palomar Sky Survey plate Steady State Universe theory lost favor. Martian features, Schiaparelli said: “… grant defects.” In the August, 1993, issue of Sky & Tele - me the chimera of these euphonic names, Initiated by Harold Corwin of the NASA scope, Timothy Ferris announced a contest to whose sounds awaken in the mind so many Extragalactic Database (NED) team, a collab- rename the Big Bang. There were three con- beautiful memories.” orative project of piecing together the true test judges: Carl Sagan, Ferris, and Hugh So there are multiple human reasons for discovery stories and presenting corrected Downs. Although over 13,000 entrees were naming astronomical objects: 1) to make the identifications and modern data for the submitted from 41 countries, the judges universe more meaningful and interesting, 2) entire NGC (New General Catalogue) and IC could not find a better name. Concluded to communicate information about objects

September 2004 Planetarian 23 in the sky and 3) to tame the cosmos so that conventions, recognized by our learned bod- Krupp, E. C. “Rambling Through the Skies: we feel more comfortable within it. The ies, to avoid confusion and allow immediate Dnoces, Navi, and Regor.” Sky & Telescope, names that we use for astronomical objects identification.” October, 1994, pp. 63-65. have interesting stories that we can and Krupp, E. C. “Rambling Through the Skies: should share in planetarium programs, sto- I am grateful to many people who answered Looking Up to the Gold Standard.” Sky & ries that for psychological and other reasons questions as I prepared this manuscript. Particu - Telescope, May, 2004, pp. 50-52. are likely to resonate with interests of mem- larly, I thank four astronomers who read the Kunitzsch, Paul, and Smart, Tim. Short Guide bers of our audiences. manuscript carefully and made many sugges - to Modern Star Names and Their Deriva - We must be grateful to the IAU commit- tions: Hélène R. Dickel, Research Professor of tions. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986. tees who work very hard to establish work- Astronomy Emerita, University of Illinois and Lachieze-Rey, Marc and Luminet, Jean-Pierre. able systems and approve new appropriate Member/Past Chair of the IAU Working Group Celestial Treasury: From the Music of The names for objects, even though their efforts on Designations; James B. Kaler, Professor Emer - Spheres to the Conquest of Space. Both edi- do not eliminate all confusion. With an itus of Astronomy, University of Illinois; E. C. tions printed in France. French edition: explosion of discoveries from new telescopes Krupp, Director of Griffith Observatory; and Bibliotheque Nationale de France/Seuil, and space explorations, it is hard for the offi- Brian G. Marsden, former Associate Director for 1998. English edition: Cambridge Univer- cial naming processes to keep up. The details Planetary Sciences at the Harvard-Smithsonian sity Press, 2001. and number of official naming conventions, Center for Astrophysics and Director of the McGourty, Christine. “Lost Letters’ Neptune unless one uses them continuously, are Minor Planets Center. Revelations.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/ tedious. And multiple names continue to science/nature/2936663.stm, April 10, confound many of us. We may hope that the Selected References 2003. present situation of multiple names for so Allen, Richard Hinckley. (First published in Ridpath, Ian. “The Origin of Our Constel- many objects will someday become more 1899 under the title of Star-Names and lations.” M e r c u r y , November/December user-friendly. In spite of these inconve- Their Meanings). Star Names: Their Lore and 1990. pp. 163-171. niences, consider what the condition of Meaning. : Dover Publications, Ridpath, Ian. Star Tales. New York: Universe astronomical nomenclature and its uses 1963. Books, 1988. would be if the IAU committees did not reg- Beatty, Cheryl and Fienberg, Richard Tresch. , Lucien, and De Vaucouleurs, G. ulate object names … an unmanageable tan- “The Big Bang Challenge.” Sky & Telescope, Larousse Encyclopedia of Astronomy. Trans- gle of misidentifications. March, 1994, pp 20-22. lated from the French publication, prod- To close in the vein with which this arti- Bishop, E. “Focal Point: The Wrong uct of Librairie Larousse. New York: Pro- cle began, Andre Heck of the Strasbourg Way to Hustle Stars.” Sky & Telescope, Feb- metheus Press, 1959, p. 302. Astronomical Observatory takes an unusual ruary, 1990, p. 124. Schaaf, Fred. “Star Names New and Old.” Sky stand regarding adopting a star or another Burdick, Alan. “Name That Star.” D i s c o v e r , & Telescope, April, 2003, p. 90. sky object. Heck suggests that “instead of pos- February, 2000, pp. 70-74 Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet ing as a shocked goddess,” at the practice of Dobbins, Thomas A. and Sheehan, William. Names. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2003. forming a personal connection with an “The Canals of Mars Revisited.” Sky & Tele - Sheehan, William. The Planet Mars: A History astronomical object, astronomers should scope, March, 2004, pp, 114-116. of Observation and Discovery. Tucson: Uni- take advantage of the interest which has Gottlieb, Steve. “Restoring Order to the versity of Arizona Press. 1996. been shown by people responding to the .” Sky & Telescope, N o v e m b e r , Stooke, Philip. “The Earliest Maps of Venus.” businesses which “sell stars.” The astronomy 2003, pp. 113-118. Sky & Telescope, August, 1992, pp. 156-158. community, says Heck, should build on pub- Gingerich, Owen. The Great Copernicus Chase Shostak, Seth. Sharing the Universe: Per - lic and student interest in astronomy by pro- and Other Adventures in Astronomical His - spectives on . B e r k e l e y : moting the “adoption” (not the selling) of tory. Cambridge: Sky Publishing Corp. and Berkeley Hills Books, 1998. various sky objects. Heck concludes that sup- Cambridge University Press, 1992. United Nations General Assembly. A g r e e - plying people who “adopt” sky objects with Gurshtein, Alexander. “When the Zodiac ment Governing the Activities of States on accurate and up-to-date information about Climbed Into the Sky.” Sky & Telescope, the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, Parts 1 their objects, including professional data and October, 1995, pp. 28-33. and 2 and Part 3 (two volumes). Adopted bibliographical references, and sometimes Heck, Andre. “An Alternative to Selling December 5, 1979. Reprinted with intro- complete scholarly papers, combining all the Stars.” Sky & Telescope, March, 1997, p. 6. ductory comments for the U.S. Committee information in a pleasing package, would International Astronomical Union. Designa- On Commerce, Science and Transpor- cost little and be very educational. Heck tions and Nomenclature of Celestial tation, May 1980, at the request of Hon. enthuses, “I see kids and adults showing Objects. http://www.iau.org/IAU/Activites Howard W. Cannon, Chairman, 96th Con- around information on the latest advances /nomenclature. gress, 2nd Session. relating to their adopted objects.” Heck International Planetarium Society; ed., Voyager III Dynamic Sky Simulator comput- believes that this mode of popularizing Bishop, Jeanne E. “International Plane- er software for Windows. Carina Software, astronomy as well as accurate education of tarium Society Sets Forth Guidelines on 2002. (http://www.carinasoft.com.) an interested sector of the public could cre- Star Naming.” The Planetarian, Vol. 17, No. Whitaker, Ewen A. Mapping and Naming the ate a large source of political and economic 3, September, 1988, pp. 20-21. Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and support for astronomy. Kaler, James web site: http://.astro.uiuc.edu/- Nomenclature. Cambridge, UK: Press Continuing his provocative discussion, kaler/sow/starname.html. Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, Heck notes, “We should never forget that we Krupp, E. C. “Night Gallery: The Function, First published 1999; Reprinted 2000. C Earth-based astronomers have no more right Origin, and Evolution of the Constella- to name celestial objects than hypothetical tions. Archaeoastronomy: the Journal of beings living somewhere else in space. Our Astronomy in Culture, Volume XV, 2000, rules are no more than human-made naming pp. 43-63.

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