Category Archives: astronomy

astronomy, IAU, Uwingu, Uwingu Fund

And Now We Suggest the Naming of Planets

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Thus Stirring up a Tempest

The International Astronomical Union took the interesting step of announcing yesterday in a press release that IT and only IT is responsible for the final names of planets and other celestial objects. This is nothing new.  The IAU does have responsibility to coordinate the naming of objects in space for astronomical use. However,  the august body of astronomers seems overly concerned about the Uwingu Fund’s contest to suggest planet names for possible use. The proceeds of that contest will be used to fund science research and science education (a useful thing in these days of budget silliness and sequestration).

The contest seems to follow the IAU’s welcoming attitude toward popular names for exoplanets. On its own Web page about naming of objects, the IAU states,

“However, considering the ever increasing interest of the general public in being involved in the discovery and understanding of the Universe, the IAU decided in 2013 to restart the discussion of the naming procedure for exoplanets and asses [sic] the need to have popular names as well. In 2013 the members of Commission 53 will be consulted in this respect and the result of this will be made public on this page.”

Having popular names actually seems to invite public participation in suggesting names, no?

It is true that IAU has filled the role of arbiter for naming celestial objects— which serves a good function so that when astronomer A refers to a certain star by its name (say, Sirius, for example) that Astronomer B  doesn’t say, “Well, we’ve always called that star “Blargh”.  So, many years ago, IAU was given the responsibility of coming up with a procedure to name things in space.  I don’t see a problem with this because having a “bookkeeper” of nomenclature is an important function and keeping track of names helps astronomers avoid confusion referring to distant stars, galaxies, planets, etc.  But, it seems to me that IAU has normally been open to suggestions for names, along certain guidelines. Hence the idea that we name places on Venus’s surface after prominent women, for example.

The reaction to the IAU press release was swift, with some Web sites and self-proclaimed experts online claiming Uwingu was somehow doing something wrong or others saying that that IAU is wrong and overstepping its bounds.

So, to understand more about what Uwingu is currently doing and the function of the IAU in all this, I read the IAU pages about naming AND I took the radical step of actually READING Uwingu’s Web site to make sure I understood their project completely.

I’ve known about Uwingu since Alan Stern told me about it last year. And, it has always been clear to me that Uwingu is not seeking to sell planet names. In fact, their Web site is pretty clear about what they’re doing. In the Uwingu FAQ, it says:

“Here at Uwingu, we’re asking the public to create a vast list of planet names for astronomers to choose from. [emphasis mine] In fact, astronomers may not even have to choose, since they will eventually need 160 billion or more planet names! And, after all, who wants planets to be known solely by geeky technical identifiers, such as 51 Peg b or Upsilon Andromeda c?”

And, that’s the gist of it.  If you donate a few dollars, you get to suggest a name. You donate a  few cents and you can vote for the coolest names. The coolest names win prizes. The money goes to research and education.

Nowhere does it say that you’re buying the right to name a planet, as seems to be suggested by the IAU press release.

NOWHERE.

Some officials at the IAU seem to not understand this,  and in my opinion the organization  jumped the gun by misinterpreting the contest. (I wonder if anyone at IAU actually contacted Uwingu??)

As Alan Stern has said about this issue, suggesting names for astronomers to use for planets is a way for the public to get involved in the excitement of planetary discovery.  Even if a planet has the official name of “Alpha Centauri Bb”, having it also bear the unofficial name “Heinlein” or “Bardot” or whatever is NO different from a star having the officially “approved” name alpha Canis Majoris but also being known as Sirius, or HIP 32349 (in the Hipparcos catalog).  There are many new planets being discovered, and while they will have official designations, having popular names will bring the excitement of exploration to a larger public audience.

There’s a long tradition in astronomy (both amateur and professional) to give objects second and even third names. You see it all over the sky: the Pleiades are also known as the “Seven Sisters”; the “Coathanger” is named for a cluster also known as Brocchi’s Cluster, which lies in Sagitta,and is part of the Collinder Catalog of objects and has the number Cr 399.  There will be a tendency to give newly discovered exoplanets second and third names, and so a contest to suggest those names is a useful part of the process.

I suggest that IAU actually get in contact with Uwingu to clarify its understanding of the contest.  The IAU officers could start by actually reading the contest pages and the FAQ (just as I did, and I didn’t need a PhD in astronomy to do even that little bit of research).  That would be the respectful and adult way to come to an understanding of Uwingu’s mission to suggest names for distant planets. The fact that it seems to dovetail with IAU’s own openness to popular names should be a plus. And, perhaps a public apology for this misinterpretation on IAU’s part should be proffered to the scientists and educators at Uwingu (some of whom are also IAU members) who have poured so much time and effort into a project that is designed to get the public interested in astronomy.

[Thanks to D. Fischer for pointing out a couple of typographical errors; now corrected. Also, the link to the IAU press release (which was not responding when I first posted this entry) is now live, and included in the first sentence.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

astronomy

It’s International Dark Sky Week

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We Need Dark!

I’ve been on travel again, out on the high seas, teaching about astronomy. Some nights we had clear skies, but most of our trip was clouded over — which is understandable for early spring in the northern hemisphere. That didn’t stop me from talking about the importance of dark skies to my audiences. I share the video we produced for the International Dark-Sky Association called Losing the Dark (where you can download an HD version) with some of my fellow passengers, which prompted some very interesting conversations.

If you haven’t heard of Losing the Dark, it’s a short video that outlines the challenges of light pollution to human health and safety, and the health of other life forms on this planet. In addition it talks about how light pollution affects our ability to see the stars and offers some easy solutions to help mitigate the problem. The video is available in two flavors: HD flat-screen for use on home computers, in classrooms, auditorium presentations, and so on; the other version is a fulldome video for use in planetariums that have fulldome capability (planetariums without that capability can use the HD flat-screen version).  The fulldome version is available at the Loch Ness Productions Web site. The best part:  it’s available absolutely FREE to anyone who wants to raise consciousness about dark skies! So, check out the two download sites to get the right copy for your situation.

The video is very popular, and the IDA (which is a non-profit organization) has been getting many requests for the show in different languages. To help spread the word worldwide about light pollution, the IDA is running a very cool crowd-funding campaign to fund the production of Losing the Dark in many different languages.  The campaign is called “Taking Losing the Dark Global” and I invite all my readers to participate — and to invite other like-minded folks who love the stars to do the same! The goal is to raise $6,000.00 and there are only 18 days left in the campaign. The perks are pretty cool, including public recognition, t-shirts, and books. Some come for less than the cost of a cuppa joe or a pizza, or the cost of dinner and a movie (at the mid-levels). If you’re one of those folks who cashed out lots of stocks from a dot-com, or won the lottery or are just feeling generous, please consider participating at  a higher level, and some other cool perks, including a l0vely dark-sky print from a famous astrophotographer could be yours. It’s all going to a good cause: helping raise awareness of dark skies worldwide.

(Full disclosure:  I am the co-producer of the video, along with Mark C. Petersen, and we are members of the International Dark-Sky Association. You’ll see my name down there on the bottom of the “team” listings for the Indiegogo campaign. So, yeah, I think it’s a great idea to help spread the word about light pollution to a global audience. I would think so even if I wasn’t involved in the project. I live in a dark-sky area and I think kids around the world should get to see the stars, too.)

In the big picture, this week — from April 4-11, 2013 — is also International Dark Sky Week, a time when world attention is focused on the many problems that light pollution causes, and the many causes of light pollution that could be changed so that we could light our homes and communities without wasting light by sending it upwards. Light pollution is an incredible waste of money and fuels. One only has to look at images of Earth at night to realize just how widespread the problem is. But, the good news is that it can be solved, and often by tiny steps such as directing light down to places where it is needed, and not up to the sky, where it is not.

International Dark Sky Week is a good time to look around your home and community to see where outdoor lighting could be minimized and/0r used more properly. It’s also a good time to talk with neighbors about shielded fixtures on their homes. There are other activities you can do to gain a better understanding of what dark skies mean to all of us — so check out the link above for International Dark Sky week and help to safely bring back the dark of night to planet Earth.