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IAU Issues Response To Uwingu’s Exoplanet Naming Campaign
An exoplanet seen from its moon (artist’s impression). Via the IAU.
Given the popularity of the recent contest by Uwingu to suggest names for the closest known exoplanet to Earth (officially named Alpha Centauri Bb or ACBb for short), the International Astronomical Union has issued a statement about their stance on the “official” naming process. The IAU says that while they welcome the public’s interest in being involved in recent discoveries, in all actuality, that probably ain’t gonna happen.
“In the light of recent events, where the possibility of buying the rights to name exoplanets has been advertised, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) wishes to inform the public that such schemes have no bearing on the official naming process. The IAU… would like to strongly stress the importance of having a unified naming procedure,” said the statement issued by the IAU.
Scientist Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and CEO Uwingu told Universe Today that he thinks the IAU should side with democracy instead of elitism.
“I think it is diminishing that the IAU is holding onto their claim that they own the Universe,” he said via phone after reviewing the IAU’s statement. “This is like some 15th century European academic club claiming that since Columbus discovered America, they own all the naming rights. That’s BS.”
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Read the rest of IAU Issues Response To Uwingu’s Exoplanet Naming Campaign (758 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: exoplanets, Extrasolar Planets, IAU, Uwingu
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2013-04-12 10:46:57
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/101417/iau-issues-response-to-uwingus-exoplanet-naming-campaign/
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