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NameExoWorlds public voting is now underway

Streetwind

By Streetwind
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Streetwind

Streetwind

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The IAU has opened the public voting part of the NameExoWorlds contest, where 32 exoplanets around 20 stars (and 15 of those stars, too) are to be given so-called "common names", as opposed to scientific designations. For the past half year, scientists and astronomy clubs were invited to submit proposals; now the the IAU has published a curated list of all suggestions it considers valid.

Voting closes October 31st. Voting is free and does not require an account. Votes are tracked by device ID; each individual device (each PC, smartphone, etc.) is eligible for one vote per star system.

Every name option given comes with an explanation for why that name was chosen as an option, provided by the submitting party. because submissions were accepted worldwide, these text can sometimes be amusingly Engrish. :P

Star systems to be named include cryptic candidates like PSR 1257+12, but also well-known stars like epsilon Eridani (and yes, "keep calling it that" is an option you can choose). In cases where a star is named alongside a planet it hosts, you can only vote for preset combinations; you cannot mix and match.

The website is here: http://nameexoworlds.iau.org/exoworldsvote

Have fun, everyone! :)

Edited by Streetwind
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Mitchz95

Mitchz95

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I feel like it's a bit too early to start naming planets in other solar systems. :P We should save proper names for systems of special interest: ones that are targeted for interstellar probes, or ones that have Earth-like (as in habitable) planets.

Still, I voted. Would have been nice to keep Bellerophon for 51 Pegasi b.

EDIT: Who the heck suggested "Starry Bunnies" and "Tortoise"? :huh:

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Streetwind

Streetwind

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Yeah, the quality of names is not universally great... that's what you get with a public outreach campaign specifically targeting educational institutions. At least one suggestion comes from a class of 7-8 year olds, according to its description. (Hilariously, it was not the worst suggestion! :P)

Thankfully, while a good two thirds of the suggestions are junk, there was at least one for each star system that I liked. Except one, where I went with the option that at least looked like it had the most effort put into it.

The Japanese were really gung-ho about this, to my surprise. It was understandable for the star system that was discovered/researched by a Japanese team, but surprisingly enough, every single system has multiple Japanese suggestions, more than any other nationality. Meanwhile the participation among western groups seems to have been kinda low by comparison. Which I'm kinda confused about, considering exoplanet hunting is big at NASA. There should have been a large number of scientific teams eligible for submissions and very interested in the field... but I suppose they forgot about it or something?

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Mitchz95

Mitchz95

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All I can think of as I go through these:

exoplanet_names.png

"Astro-Club "Nippy" would like to propose for the sun-like star "epsilon Eridani" the name "Tilapia", while this star can engender and maintain a civilization of intelligent tilapias on one of the moons of the planet "epsilon Eridani b". Tilapia sapiens is a genus of fishes in the Cichlidae family. The similar extremophilic tilapias exist in warm Lake Natron in Kenya and Tanzania, and a saltwater ocean on one of the many small moons that orbit Saturn called Enceladus is the most likely place in the solar system for extraterrestrial life in the form of tilapias to be found."

*slams head on desk*

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Ten Key

Ten Key

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There are two really good choices for epsilon Tauri b, the exoplanet discovered by the Japanese team. I find myself torn.

"Amaterasu is a goddess of the sun in Japanese myth. She was born from left-eye of god Izanagi, when he was washing up his eyes. We propose this name because the system is left-eye of Taurus and found at Japan."

I like the tie in here between the Arabic name of the star and the proposed Japanese name for the planet.

or. . .

Kanenone -- The explanation on the website is rather long winded, but in Japan the constellation Taurus is seen as a temple bell rather than a bull. The name translates as "Ring of Bell" (Ring the Bell?) and is a play on how the planet was discovered from the wobble it induces its parent star. I love the mental image here.

Bleh, I'll come back to this one at the end. :)

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Mitchz95

Mitchz95

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Why does every Tom, Rick and Harry want to name a planet? Why can't we just stick with the names they already have? Epsilon Eridani sounds much better than some traditional Japanese doll.

Because a seemingly-random mix of numbers and words isn't very memorable. But I agree, not every planet needs a formal name. Certainly not yet. :P

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Streetwind

Streetwind

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Please tell me this is a typo/autocorrect, and they didn't actually collect names from astrology nuts.

God dammit autocorrect... >_< As if juggling links into forum posts on mobile wasn't hard enough already!

*edits OP*

- - - Updated - - -

There are two really good choices for epsilon Tauri b, the exoplanet discovered by the Japanese team. I find myself torn.

I voted for Kanenone. It's well explained and unique. In contrast, Amaterasu is an exceptionally overused name for anything and everything in Japanese entertainment nowadays, from wolves in videogames over ninja techniques in anime to pop songs and more... it just feels like the less mature, less thoughtful name. It also shows up 4-5 times as a suggestion in various systems, which only reinforces this feeling.

And in one other system, it sadly is the only halfway decent choice (and well paired with a topical planet name for once), so I voted for Amaterasu in that one.

Why does every Tom, Rick and Harry want to name a planet? Why can't we just stick with the names they already have? Epsilon Eridani sounds much better than some traditional Japanese doll.

You can express your opinion by going there and actually voting for the choice that says "Epsilon Eridani" then! :P

Though keep in mind, the results of this contest will not replace the systematic names in any way. They are additional, colloquial names. Look at Formalhaut (alpha Piscis Austrini) for an example where the star already has both. Formalhaut is the colloquial, "common name", whereas alpha Piscis Austrini is the systematic name. Giving the star its colloquial name did not magically erase the systematic one.

How did these names get through the IAU?

I can only guess that they are doing this as a publicity stunt and want to keep a lot of the educational organizations in the boat... yeah, I dunno. I was disappointed as well, but hey, there's at least one decent choice in every system, so might as well pick that one, and in doing so, prevent the junk from having any chance of winning.

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Ten Key

Ten Key

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I voted for Kanenone. It's well explained and unique. In contrast, Amaterasu is an exceptionally overused name for anything and everything in Japanese entertainment nowadays, from wolves in videogames over ninja techniques in anime to pop songs and more... it just feels like the less mature, less thoughtful name. It also shows up 4-5 times as a suggestion in various systems, which only reinforces this feeling.

And in one other system, it sadly is the only halfway decent choice (and well paired with a topical planet name for once), so I voted for Amaterasu in that one.

I ended up coming to the same conclusion.

Thanks for pointing this out Streetwind. Going through those was more fun than I thought it would be. :)

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AngelLestat

AngelLestat

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Except these grains of sand have huge gravity wells...

And? you will find more planets (from those who nobody cares because they are at ludicrus distances, biggers than earth and closers to their stars) in this galaxy than names for them... If you take into account all names in all cultures and history, it will not be enoght.. And the question is ... why for?

We never will go to visit them. That is why stars or galaxy had also code+number names, the same for many asteroids.

If we found a planet in our neighborhood <20 light years, then it worth the name.

Edited by AngelLestat
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Streetwind

Streetwind

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And? you will find more planets (from those who nobody cares because they are at ludicrus distances, biggers than earth and closers to their stars) in this galaxy than names for them... If you take into account all names in all cultures and history, it will not be enoght.. And the question is ... why for?

We never will go to visit them. That is why stars or galaxy had also code+number names, the same for many asteroids.

If we found a planet in our neighborhood <20 light years, then it worth the name.

You know, if you care that little, "why for" do you even come here to post? You add less than nothing to this thread.

Not to mention that you're not even informed as to which star systems and planets are being named, because some of them are as close as 10 light years. :rolleyes:

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Streetwind

Streetwind

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Also, can someone show a list of these planets arranged by their distance from Earth?

Eh, sure... work is slow today... *hits wikipedia because I don't have all of them memorized*

  10 - epsilon Eridani
  25 - alpha Piscis Austrini (Formalhaut)
  34 - beta Geminorum (Pollux)
  41 - 55 Cancri
  44 - upsilon Andromedae
  45 - gamma Cephei (Errai)
  46 - 47 Ursae Majoris
  50 - mu Arae
  51 - tau Boötis
  51 - 51 Pegasi
 101 - iota Draconis (Edasich)
 147 - epsilon Tauri (Ain)
 184 - xi Aquilae
 238 - 18 Delphini
 258 - 14 Andromedae
 260 - HD 149026
 280 - 41 Lyncis / HD 81688
 315 - 42 Draconis
 317 - HD 104985
1000 - PSR B1257+12

Fun fact: PSR B1257+12 is absurdly far away - certainly much farther than anything else in this list. But it is still the first star we ever confirmed exoplanets around. In fact, we've confirmed three bodies... one of which has just 2% of Earth's mass, making it one of the smallest exobodies ever observed regardless of distance. How come?

That's because it's a millisecond pulsar going at nearly 10,000rpm. Pulsars are sort of "universal clocks" - their signal timing is unbelievably precise and reliable. This played a large role in identifying the exoplanets, because they mess with that timing.

Edited by Streetwind
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Bill Phil

Bill Phil

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And? you will find more planets (from those who nobody cares because they are at ludicrus distances, biggers than earth and closers to their stars) in this galaxy than names for them... If you take into account all names in all cultures and history, it will not be enoght.. And the question is ... why for?

We never will go to visit them. That is why stars or galaxy had also code+number names, the same for many asteroids.

If we found a planet in our neighborhood <20 light years, then it worth the name.

We name things all the time. And we won't run out for a while, if you count in random combinations of syllables.

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