Characters from "The Tempest", the late Carl Sagan and the 18th-century Astronomer Royal Nathaniel Bliss were among dozens of new names assigned to moons and features on planets in the solar system approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the only body with international authority to name astronomical bodies and the features on them. Names are confirmed every three years at each general assembly. The working group for planetary system nomenclature (WGPSN) examines every proposal. The committee selectes the names after submissions from the discoverers, cartographers and space flight engineers investigating new satellites, asteroids and craters throughout the solar system.
Along with earth-based observatories, space probes such as Galileo and Clementine have discovered a plethora of new moons, craters and other features, all of which need names for the benefit of today's astronomers and any future explorers. Shakespeare's play The Tempest had already been the inspiration for the names of some of the moons of Uranus discovered earlier, such as Ariel and Miranda. They will now be joined by Prospero, the magician master of the island in the play; Setebos who enslaves Ariel, and Stephano, the ship's butler.
These names replace the less interesting temporary designations, S/1999 U3, U1 and U2, respectively. The names Caliban and Sycorax, provisionally given to two moons of Uranus discovered in 1997, were also formally confirmed. In the asteroid belt, Eugenia's recently discovered satellite is named Petit-Prince after the son of Eugenie, the empress of Napoleon III. Craters on the dark asteroid Mathilde are named after coal basins around the world. Nathaniel Bliss, the fourth Astronomer Royal who died after just 18 months in his post at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, will give his name to a lunar ring between the lunar crater Plato and Mount Piton. Bliss, who served from 1762-64, was until now the only Astronomer Royal without the honour of a named body or feature. The late Carl Sagan, who is remembered for his contributions to planetary research and as one of the most successful popularisers of astronomy, will be honoured with a 95-kilometre-wide crater near the equator on Mars.
Features on the near-earth asteroid Eros, being observed by the orbiting NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft, are to be named after great lovers in mythology and literature. They include Cupid, Lolita and Don Quixote. Galileo, the first astronomer to use a telescope, probably would not have approved. In the 17th century he refused to accept the proposed names of Jupiter's largest satellites because they commemorated the illicit lovers of Jupiter in classical mythology. Danish astronomer Dr Johannes Andersen, who served as general-secretary of the IAU from 1997 to 2000, has also been honoured with an asteroid to be called Johannes.
Asteroids are named by their discoverers and all six of these were discovered by Dr Edward Bowell of the Lowell Observatory. Often, discoverers name asteroids for friends, colleagues, family members, places and famous people (poets, musicians, writers, and so on). Originally, asteroids were named after female deities but the supply of such names ran out in the 19th century. Under the procedures of the IAU, discoverers submit names for asteroids to Dr Brian Marsden, director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There are rules for the acceptability of names. They must not be too similar to existing names. They must not be obscene or objectionable, and they must not pertain to politicians, religious leaders and military leaders, unless long dead. IAU Commission 20, which deals with the motions of asteroids and comets, along with their discovery, is always seeking suggestions for asteroid names. Comets are named for their discoverers.
In particular, asteroid discoverers lose their right to name their discoveries after ten years have passed from the date of numbering. There is usually a pool of asteroids ready to be named.
Suggestions can be sent to the Minor Planet Center at: mpc@cfa.harvard.edu. Further information: http://www.iau.org.
Freitag, 15. Dezember 2000