DOCSLIB.ORG

Sternberg Astronomical Institute Supernova Catalogue and Radial Distribution of Supernovae in the Host Galaxies O

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sternberg Astronomical Institute Supernova Catalogue and Radial Distribution of Supernovae in the Host Galaxies O Sternberg Astronomical Institute Supernova Catalogue and Radial Distribution of Supernovae in the Host Galaxies O. S. Bartunov, D. Yu. Tsvetkov and N. N. Pavlyuk Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia Abstract. We present Supernova Catalogue and the results of investigation of Supernova radial distribution in the host galaxies based on the new data. We collected the available data on SNe and verified their coordinates, identifications of host galaxies and information about them, which was compiled from different sources and included in our catalogue. We corrected many errors in previous data, and found new data about galaxies. The catalogue is stored in RDBMS and was specially designed following the recommendations of Virtual Observatory. It is planned to make it available as a resource of Virtual Observatory. One of the primary goals is the scaling of our catalogue to include the large number of SNe expected to be discovered by forthcoming projects. We also raise several questions before SN community: the existing nomenclature scheme soon will become insufficient to handle large numbers of SNe; the current way of assigning SN identifications does not satisfy modern state of affairs: many SNe are discovered by closed projects and become available to the community after long time. We confirm the results of our previous study, which found significant differences in distribu- tions of types Ia, Ib/c and II SNe in the central parts of spiral galaxies: low rate of SNe Ia in the innermost parts and relatively high concentration of SNe Ib/c towards the centers of host galaxies. We discuss possibilities of future SNAP mission to provide data enabling to study evo- lution of SNe radial distributions with age and distance and possible improvement of estimates of cosmological parameters using more homogeneous samples of SNe Ia selected on the basis of their position in the host galaxies. 1. Introduction The collection and systematization of SN data and their presentation in a form con- venient for statistical and other studies are of particular interest at present time. The number of SN discoveries increased dramatically in recent years. SNe are widely used as "standard candles" for constructing distance scales and for cosmological studies, some of them may be related to mysterious gamma-ray bursts. The first lists of SNe appeared in late 1950s and were repeatedly updated as the number of discoveries increased (Zwicky 1958, 1965; Kowal and Sargent 1971; Sargent et al. 1974). They presented also the basic data on the host galaxies, and catalogs by Karpowicz and Rudnicki (1968) and Flin et al. (1979) also contained a complete bibliography for each object. In the last twenty years, the Asiago Observatory Catalogue of SNe (Barbon et al. 1984, 1989, 1999) has received the greatest recognition. At present, continuously updated lists and catalogs of SNe can be found on the Internet. Among them we would like to mention the list of SNe maintained by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/lists/Supernovae.html) and the online version of the Asiago Catalogue (http://web.pd.astro.it/supern). Studies of the SN distribution in galaxies are of great interest in elucidating the nature 1 of the stellar populations that provide SN explosions of a certain type. Although the presupernova stars have been detected for several type II SNe, the origin of precursors of other types is still an open question in many respects. Of particular interest is the possible difference between the populations of type-Ia presupernovae in galaxies of different types, ages and chemical compositions, which can affect the results of cosmological studies. Despite the rapid increase in the amount of data, the SN distributions in galaxies have been studied rarely in recent years. After the paper by Bartunov et al. (1992), which provides references to earlier works, we would like to note the papers by van den Bergh (1997), Wang et al. (1997), Howell et al. (2000), Tsvetkov et al. (2004). The latest studies have revealed some unexpected facts: deficiency of SNe Ia in the central parts of spiral galaxies and strong concentration of SNe Ib/c toward the centers, which deserve verification using larger amount of data and interpretation. 2. Supernova Catalogue The SAI Catalogue of SNe was originally intended for statistical studies, its compilation was started in 1986 on the basis of existing SNe lists and published data, it was described by Tsvetkov and Bartunov (1993) and Tsvetkov et al. (2004). Until recently Supernova Catalogue was stored as filebased system. The data on SNe were connected with the data on their host galaxies in the main file of the catalogue: each string presented data on SN and on its host galaxy. At the beginning of 2006 we started transformation of the catalogue to the database structure. We want to abandon traditional table, to follow relational approach and nor- malize data. The main reasons are: There are galaxies with multiple SNe outbursts. In the table the data on these host galaxies• is presented in several lines, corresponding to each SN. So when the information on one galaxy is updated, it is necessary to replace it in several lines. After the division of tasks of updating the data on SNe and on host galaxies this can• be done by different authors. It is possible to insert data on newly discovered SNe quickly and to update information on the galaxies more seldom, when new data become available. Only one author can make changes in the file at certain moment. But with growing num• ber of SN discoveries it is necessary to provide several authors with the possibility to edit the data simultaneously. This becomes possible with the new structure, the jobs of several authors can be duly distributed and coordinated. In the file the data is strictly formatted, and if the information for some SN does not• fit in the format, the structure of all file should be changed. In the database it is possible to foresee future changes, as the data of variable length are permissible. The task of adding new data to the catalogue can be further systematized and divided• into simple parts. Besides dividing all the data into two main tables with infor- mation on SNe: "sn" and on the galaxies: "galaxies", the constant parts of inserted data are presented in separate tables - so called reference tables. While compiling the catalogue we payed special attention to the identification of the host galaxies, which is becoming increasingly difficult because of growing number of faint and distant SNe discovered in recent years. In addition, difficulties arise when a SN explodes in a multiple system or in a peculiar galaxy. Therefore we studied the sky field around each SN using various digital sky surveys. To find the most likely host galaxy, we use data on the radial velocity and brightness of the galaxies and SNe in addition to their sky position. If the host galaxy is multiple, it is specified in the description of the galaxy type, and SNe in such galaxies are excluded from sample for studying the radial distribution. The catalogue will be available for downloading as a text file (compatible with previous versions) and as dump database for installation on any user's computer. In future we plan to make it a resource of Virtual Observatory. 3. Problem of SN designations Working on the catalogue, we have to deal with the currently accepted system of designations. Now it becomes clear that this system cannot meet growing demands. First of all, only 702 SNe per year can be designated, and very soon this number will be exceeded. The sequence of names in many cases does not reflect neither time order of discoveries nor order of outbursts. Besides, some recent projects do not report their discoveries to IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, and these SNe does not receive usual designations. So we suggest that this system should be modified to have enough capacity to designate thousands of SNe per year, it should be compatible with the present system and should provide possibility for closed projects to include their discoveries at any time without disordering the system. To increase the capacity without changing existing scheme we propose to prolong the designations, so after SN2008zz we should have SN2008aaa, SN2008aab, etc. The basic principle is that the year in the designation is the year when discovery image was obtained, not the year of actual discovery. For example, while investigating the SAI plate collection in 2005, Antipin (2005) discovered new SN on plate obtained in 1985. As now the last SN for this year is SN 1985U, this new object should be given name SN 1985V. It is clear, that the time order of discoveries cannot be reflected by the order of SNe names, so if some project makes the list of discovered SNe available after some period past actual observations were made, these SNe should be appended at the end of the list for the year of first SN observations. The SN names given by the project, such as SNLS-04D1ag for SN discovered by SNLS (http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/SNLS), can be regarded as its proper name and also used for references; our catalogue already includes the table with unique identifications of SNe and their proper names. We also appeal to the teams carrying out specialized SN searches, aimed to investigate, for instance, only SNe Ia, to publish all their discoveries. This is vital for completeness of SN catalogues, for studies of radial distribution of SN and rates of their outbursts. 4. Radial distribution of SNe The method of analyzing the radial distribution is virtually identical to the method that we used previously (Bartunov et al.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • IAU Division C Working Group on Star Names 2019 Annual Report
    IAU Division C Working Group on Star Names 2019 Annual Report Eric Mamajek (chair, USA) WG Members: Juan Antonio Belmote Avilés (Spain), Sze-leung Cheung (Thailand), Beatriz García (Argentina), Steven Gullberg (USA), Duane Hamacher (Australia), Susanne M. Hoffmann (Germany), Alejandro López (Argentina), Javier Mejuto (Honduras), Thierry Montmerle (France), Jay Pasachoff (USA), Ian Ridpath (UK), Clive Ruggles (UK), B.S. Shylaja (India), Robert van Gent (Netherlands), Hitoshi Yamaoka (Japan) WG Associates: Danielle Adams (USA), Yunli Shi (China), Doris Vickers (Austria) WGSN Website: https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/280/ ​ WGSN Email: [email protected] ​ The Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) consists of an international group of astronomers with expertise in stellar astronomy, astronomical history, and cultural astronomy who research and catalog proper names for stars for use by the international astronomical community, and also to aid the recognition and preservation of intangible astronomical heritage. The Terms of Reference and membership for WG Star Names (WGSN) are provided at the IAU website: https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/280/. ​ ​ ​ WGSN was re-proposed to Division C and was approved in April 2019 as a functional WG whose scope extends beyond the normal 3-year cycle of IAU working groups. The WGSN was specifically called out on p. 22 of IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030: “The IAU serves as the ​ internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and their surface features. To do so, the IAU has a number of Working Groups on various topics, most notably on the nomenclature of small bodies in the Solar System and planetary systems under Division F and on Star Names under Division C.” WGSN continues its long term activity of researching cultural astronomy literature for star names, and researching etymologies with the goal of adding this information to the WGSN’s online materials.
    [Show full text]
  • THEORY of NAMES and COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS – the CASE of the METAPHOR Nikola Dobri Ć Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt
    31 This is a contribution from Filozofija i društvo , Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 31-41, 2010 © 2010 Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade This electronic file may not be altered or reproduced in any way. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THEORY OF NAMES AND COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS – THE CASE OF THE METAPHOR Nikola Dobri ć Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt Abstract: The philosophical and, in a lesser degree, linguistic debate about the notion of names has been raging for a long time. The processes behind naming are presented and explained in various ways. This paper will try to give a new insight into the motivation behind the creation of new names as seen from the linguistics viewpoint. Metaphor, as one of the major sources of motivation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, is the basic form of human conceptualization. The first part of the paper presents the current theories about names. The second part describes the basic principles of cognitive linguistics as related to metaphors. The third part deals with providing the evidence regarding metaphor involvement in original creation of people’s names, while
    [Show full text]
  • Public Naming of Exoplanets and Their Stars: Implementation and Outcomes of the IAU100
    Public Naming of Exoplanets and Their Stars: Implementation and Outcomes of the IAU100 Best Practice Best NameExoWorlds Global Project Eric Mamajek Debra Meloy Elmegreen Alain Lecavelier des Etangs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Vassar College Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris Institute of Technology [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Eduardo Monfardini Penteado Lars Lindberg Christensen [email protected] NSF’s NOIRLab [email protected] Gareth Williams [email protected] Hitoshi Yamaoka National Astronomical Observatory of Guillem Anglada-Escudé Japan (NAOJ) Institute for Space Science (ICE/CSIC), [email protected] Queen Mary University of London Keywords [email protected] exoplanets, IAU nomenclature The IAU100 NameExoWorlds public naming campaign was a core project during the International Astronomical Union’s 100th anniversary (IAU100) in 2019, giving the opportunity to everyone, everywhere, to propose official names for exoplanets and their host stars. With IAU100 NameExoWorlds the IAU encouraged all peoples of Earth to consider themselves as “Citizens of the Universe”, united “under one sky”. The 113 national campaigns involved hundreds of thousands of people in a global effort to bring the public closer to science by allowing them to participate in the process of naming stars and planets, and learning more about astronomy in the process. The campaign resulted in nearly 425 000 votes, and 113 new IAU-recognised proper names for exoplanets and 113 new names for their stars. The IAU now officially recognises the chosen proper names in addition to their previous scientific designations, and they appear in popular databases. Introduction wished to contribute to the fraternity of all through international cooperation, the IAU people with a significant token of global is the authority responsible for assigning Over the past three decades, astronomers identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Class Exercise on Star Lists
    Phys 102 Astronomy Name ___________________Key ATLAS CHARTS Find the atlas charts (two) for the Big & Little Dippers in the field guide and read the descriptions to complete the following: 1. The diagram shows the Dippers at 10 pm tonight over Canton. Label it with a) Greek letters of the Bayer designations of the stars in the Dippers b) Indicate the position of Thuban (α Dra) c)25 List the apparent magnitudes of the stars in each dipper (read the texts of the atlas charts!) α β Star Name Mag. α pointer Owl α UMa Dubhe 1.8 stars neb. δ β UMa Merak 2.4 Little Dipper γ γ UMa Phecda 2.4 ε δ δ UMa Megrez 3.3 ζ β ε UMa Alioth 1.8 ε Big η γ Dipper ζ UMa Mizar 2.2 ζ 80 UMa Alcor 3.9 η UMa Alkaid 1.9 α Dra: Thuban M101 η Star Name Magnitude α UMi Polaris 2.0 β UMi Kochab 2.1 γ UMi Pherkad 3.1 δ UMi Delta 4.4 ε UMi Epsilon 4.2 ζ UMi Zeta 4.3 η UMi Eta 5.0 2.16 List the proper names and magnitudes of the stars in the Big Dipper in order from brightest to dimmest Brightest Dimmest Name Dubhe Alioth Alkaid Mizar Merak Phecda Megrez Alcor Magnitude 1.8 1.8 1.9 2.2 2.4 2.4 3.3 3.9 Same Same 3.2 What’s special about the stars Mizar and Alcor? (READ both Atlas Chart TEXTS) Mizar & Alcor are a double star in the handle separated by 18°, 1/3 the moon’s diameter.
    [Show full text]
  • Beginnings of Indian Astronomy with Reference to a Parallel Development in China
    History of Science in South Asia A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all regions of South Asia Beginnings of Indian Astronomy with Reference to a Parallel Development in China Asko Parpola University of Helsinki MLA style citation form: Asko Parpola, “Beginnings of Indian Astronomy, with Reference to a Parallel De- velopment in China” History of Science in South Asia (): –. Online version available at: http://hssa.sayahna.org/. HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA A journal for the history of all forms of scientific thought and action, ancient and modern, in all regions of South Asia, published online at http://hssa.sayahna.org Editorial Board: • Dominik Wujastyk, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria • Kim Plofker, Union College, Schenectady, United States • Dhruv Raina, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India • Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, formerly Aligarh Muslim University, Düsseldorf, Germany • Fabrizio Speziale, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – CNRS, Paris, France • Michio Yano, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan Principal Contact: Dominik Wujastyk, Editor, University of Vienna Email: [email protected] Mailing Address: Krishna GS, Editorial Support, History of Science in South Asia Sayahna, , Jagathy, Trivandrum , Kerala, India This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Copyrights of all the articles rest with the respective authors and published under the provisions of Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike . Unported License. The electronic versions were generated from sources marked up in LATEX in a computer running / operating system. was typeset using XƎTEX from TEXLive .
    [Show full text]
  • Star Name Database
    Star Name Database Patrick J. Gleason April 29, 2019 Copyright © 2019 Atlanta Bible Fellowship All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, nor may it be stored in any information retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise copied for public or private use, without the written permission of the publisher. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to S & R Technology Group, Suite 250, PMB 96, 15310 Amberly Drive, Tampa, Florida 33647. Star Names April 29, 2019 Patrick J. Gleason Atlanta Bible Fellowship Table of Contents 1.0 The Initiative ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Method ......................................................................................................... 2 2.0 Key Fields ........................................................................................................ 3 3.0 Data Fields ....................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Common_Name (Column A) ............................................................................. 7 3.2 Full_Name (Column B) ...................................................................................... 7 3.3 Language (Column C) ........................................................................................ 8 3.4 Translation (Column D)....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • IAU WGSN 2019 Annual Report
    IAU Division C Working Group on Star Names 2019 Annual Report Eric Mamajek (chair, USA) WG Members: Juan Antonio Belmote Avilés (Spain), Sze-leung Cheung (Thailand), Beatriz García (Argentina), Steven Gullberg (USA), Duane Hamacher (Australia), Susanne M. Hoffmann (Germany), Alejandro López (Argentina), Javier Mejuto (Honduras), Thierry Montmerle (France), Jay Pasachoff (USA), Ian Ridpath (UK), Clive Ruggles (UK), B.S. Shylaja (India), Robert van Gent (Netherlands), Hitoshi Yamaoka (Japan) WG Associates: Danielle Adams (USA), Yunli Shi (China), Doris Vickers (Austria) WGSN Website: https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/280/ WGSN Email: [email protected] The Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) consists of an international group of astronomers with expertise in stellar astronomy, astronomical history, and cultural astronomy who research and catalog proper names for stars for use by the international astronomical community, and also to aid the recognition and preservation of intangible astronomical heritage. The Terms of Reference and membership for WG Star Names (WGSN) are provided at the IAU website: https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/working_groups/280/. WGSN was re-proposed to Division C and was approved in April 2019 as a functional WG whose scope extends beyond the normal 3-year cycle of IAU working groups. The WGSN was specifically called out on p. 22 of IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030: “The IAU serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and their surface features. To do so, the IAU has a number of Working Groups on various topics, most notably on the nomenclature of small bodies in the Solar System and planetary systems under Division F and on Star Names under Division C.” WGSN continues its long term activity of researching cultural astronomy literature for star names, and researching etymologies with the goal of adding this information to the WGSN’s online materials.
    [Show full text]
  • International Legislation in the Field of Astronomical Nomenclature
    International Legislation in the Field of Astronomical Nomenclature Liliya Kazantseva1 Candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, the Head of the Astronomical Museum, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine) E-mail: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8289-3954 The names of celestial objects and natural formations on the Earth’s surface take into account historical trends and certain generalized systematics. National and regional names are more used in relation to anthropogenic objects. The decision to assign a name to a celestial body is made by the relevant international structures through a preliminary long-term study. International and national legal acts, regulating the sphere of astronomical nomenclature, are analyzed. Keywords: astronomical nomenclature, space law, astronomical names Received: September 27, 2019; accepted: November 01, 2019 Advanced Space Law, Volume 4, 2019: 19-25. https://doi.org/10.29202/asl/2019/4/2 Introduction There are times when, as a sign of sincere gratitude, admiration “in memory of” or from a distant calculation, one person or persons want to give another one something unusual and unique, in addition naming in honour of the lucky one. It is good if the donators have such a thing or object, otherwise, in case of a car, TV, perfume or any material thing made or designed not by you, it is difficult to rename, it is already clear to everyone. You can give a named villa, yacht, hotel, company or firm, fund. And if you want something bigger or large-scale? Village, river, maybe sea or ocean, island, continent? Here everyone understands that it will not be possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Observing Stellar Evolution
    Observing Stellar Evolution Observing Program Coordinator Bill Pellerin Houston Astronomical Society Houston, TX Observing Stellar Evolution © Copyright 2012 by the Astronomical League. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Astronomical League. Limited permission is granted for the downloading, reproducing, and/or printing of the material for personal use. Astronomical League 9201 Ward Parkway, Suite 1000 Kansas City, MO 64114 816-DEEP-SKY www.astroleague.org Observing Stellar Evolution Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Rules and Regulations ................................................................................................................................... 4 Some terms you need to know ..................................................................................................................... 5 Stellar Catalogs.............................................................................................................................................. 6 The HR Diagram ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Stellar Evolution in a Nutshell ......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Connections: Investigating Stars
    FOR THE FAMILY OF: INVESTIGATING CONNECTIONS Investigating Stars The creation of the expanding nebula shown in this image was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD... See story on page 2. INSIDE THIS ISSUE! Family Feature Decoding Life Cycles 2 Family Feature The Stellar Zoo 5 Star Witness 6 Sky Watch 7 Cultural Connections 9 Talk Like an Astronomer 9 2 Family Features Decoding Life Cycles Part 1 Your First Challenge: Decoding the stages in the life of some Pretend for the next few moments that Now that you have found this particu- living things can be challenging, espe- you are “aliens” visiting Earth for a very lar life form to be of special interest, cially if those stages are very different short while. You’ve observed a wide you are going to try to determine the — like an egg, tadpole, and frog; or an variety of life forms. One in particu- various stages of its life cycle. Unfortu- egg, caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly. lar, whose activities seem to have an nately, you are not visiting Earth long But time is often on the biologist’s side. impact on all the others, interests you enough to follow a single specimen If a group of eggs is found, the eggs the most. Let’s call them “humans.” from birth to death, but you’ve been can be observed, and what comes out You’ve collected a number of images observing and collecting pictures and of them can be tracked through each of these humans as part of a research information on a variety of humans for stage.
    [Show full text]
  • How Astronomical Objects Are Named
    How Astronomical Objects Are Named Jeanne E. Bishop Westlake Schools Planetarium 24525 Hilliard Road Westlake, Ohio 44145 U.S.A. bishop{at}@wlake.org Sept 2004 Introduction “What, I wonder, would the science of astrono- use of the sky 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 stars 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 constellations ing of star names by private nobody, and the books describing these things used currently by astronomers 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- – Johannes Hevelius, 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 times or the Committee for Astronomical Accuracy, I book “… is a scam. Astronomers don’t recog- during the European age of exploration and prepare a reference article that describes not nize those names.
    [Show full text]
  • A STAR and ITS PLANET GET INDIAN NAMES AFTER a GLOBAL CONTEST Relevant For: Geography | Topic: the Earth and the Solar System
    Source : www.thehindu.com Date : 2019-12-19 A STAR AND ITS PLANET GET INDIAN NAMES AFTER A GLOBAL CONTEST Relevant for: Geography | Topic: The Earth and the Solar System Image for representational purposes only | Photo Credit: AP A white yellow star in Sextans constellation and its Jupiter-like exoplanets, which were hitherto named HD 86081 and 86081b, will now have Indian names. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) on December 17 announced that while the star would be called ‘Bibh’, the planet would be known as ‘Santamasa’. The star has been named in honour of a pioneering Indian woman scientist Bibha Choudhury, who discovered subatomic particle, pi-meson. ‘Bhibha’ also means “a bright beam of light” in Bengali. The planet has been named S’antamasa’ to reflect the cloudy nature of its atmosphere. ‘Santamasa’ is the Sanskrit term for ‘clouded’. The IAU chose the name at the end of a global contest called ‘NameExoWorlds’, which was organised as part of its centenary celebrations. The agency, which turned 100 on July 28, had allowed every country in the world to give a famous name to a selected pair of exoplanet and its host star. India was allotted HD 86081 and its exoplanet HD 86081b. The contest was launched on 10th July 2019. By August 15, the last date for submission, a total of 1,717 youngsters had suggested names, and a committee of experts shortlisted10 for public voting. The final entry was selected after voting by 5,587 people. Ananyo Bhattacharya, a 22-year-old student of Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology at Surat, had suggested the name of ‘Bhibha’ for the star and 13-year-old Vidyasagar Daud of Singhad Spring Dale Public School, Pune, had suggested ‘Santamasa’ for the planet.
    [Show full text]