112 Exoplanets Have New Names From Over 300,000 Worldwide Submissions

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), 112 countries organized national campaigns to name 112 exoplanets. Each country’s National Committee made a shortlist of candidates from all the submissions, then presented them to the public for voting.

In total, over 780,000 people directly participated in the IAU100 NameExoWorlds campaign, with people from 112 countries submitting over 360,000 name proposals for the exoplanets and their host stars, and over 420,000 people voting for the final names.

On Dec. 17, the chosen names were announced at a press conference in Paris.

“While astronomers catalog their new discoveries using telephone-number-like designations, there has been growing interest amongst astronomers and the public alike in also assigning proper names, as is done for Solar System bodies,” co-chair of the NameExoWorlds Steering Committee Erik Mamajek said.

In fact, the global project was intended to create awareness of our place in the Universe and how civilizations on other planets could potentially perceive the Earth. And since the IAU is responsible for assigning names to celestial bodies, it took the 100th anniversary as a chance to involve people from all over the world to name a planetary system that is seen from their country.

For instance, the new names that Ireland gave exoplanet HAT-P-36b and its star HAT-P-36 are Bran and Tuiren, respectively. These are names of mythical dogs from the Irish legend The Birth of Bran. As for Jordan, it named exoplanet WASP-80b Wadirum and its star WASP-80 Petra after names of protected cities and protected areas, while Burkina Fasso named planet HD 30856 b Nakambé and its host star HD 30856 Mouhoun after rivers in Burkina Fasso. As it happens, Nakambé and Mouhoun are actually in the River constellation.

The other names vary in origin from iconic landscapes and indigenous words to deities and influential figures. In fact, a few dozen of the names were of indigenous etymology because indigenous speakers were encouraged to submit names from those languages in celebration of the United Nation’s 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages.

For instance, El Salvador gave the name Citalá to star HD52265 and the name Cayahuanca to the exoplanet. Citalá and Cayahuanca are both terminologies from indigenous Nahuat language, with Citalá meaning “river of stars,” and Cayahuaca meaning “the rock looking at the stars.”

The full list of the new names can be found on the IAU100 website.

IAU100 NameExoWorlds is just one of the 5,000 activities in 140 countries prepared for IAU ’s 100^th anniversary.

“Throughout the year we have engaged with the public through various astronomy activities for the IAU's 100th anniversary,” IAU President Ewine van Dishoeck said.