If you have ever wanted to name a planet and a sensation , now is your hazard . After the success of 2015 and 2019,NameExoWorldsis add up back in 2022 with 20 exciting young worldwide organisation that ask public figure beyond the current serial publication of letters and number . And there is an exciting reason these worlds demand a name so chop-chop : They will be targeted during JWST ’s upcoming scientific observations .
The initiative is organized by theInternational galactic Union(IAU ) and participating is well-situated . The first step is to produce and go through an outreach event related to exoplanets . In - person or online events are equally valid , and they can overlay many aspects of exoplanet research from observations to speculation about the presence of life elsewhere . The consequence could be used as a position to vote for a potential name , put forward by the organizing squad , or the suffrage could take place in advance and the outreach result be used to declare the pick that will be submitted to the IAU .
Now , there aresome rulesabout what you could project . The names should be worthy of a celestial object so they should be name after “ things , mass , or places of long - bear ethnical , historical , or geographical meaning . ” The IAU suggest considering something related to the constellation they appeared in , although that is not a essential . render that this is theUnited Nations Decade of Indigenous Languages ( 2022 – 2032 ) , Indigenous language names are encourage as long as extremity of those Indigenous residential area are involved in the team and give consent to the use .
The IAU is look for two names for each system . One will go to the star and one to the planet . Each system has only draw one known planet , so the proposed name calling need to be related by a common radical . They ca n’t be apple and Pyrus communis , for example , although , really , apples and pear would be link up by the paper of fruit . So let ’s say they ca n’t be apple and crabs .
There are also some restriction as to what the names can be . You ca n’t name the systems after actual people ( dead or alive ) , and they ca n’t be named after already existing celestial bodies – so blank out Uranus 2 . Neologisms and portmanteaus are excluded so we ca n’t have a planet called brunch , regrettably . Trademark names , organizations , pets , acronym , as well as religious , military , and political names are also excluded .
Get thinking , get prepping , and get submitting !
