Over the past few centuries, a small number of stars have been named after individual people. It is common in astronomy for objects to be given names, in accordance with accepted astronomical naming conventions. Most stars have not been given proper names, relying instead on alphanumeric designations in star catalogues. However, a few hundred had either long-standing traditional names (usually from the Arabic) or historic names from frequent usage.
In addition, many stars have catalogue designations that contain the name of their compiler or discoverer. This includes Gliese, Wolf, Ross, Bradley, Piazzi, Lacaille, Struve, Groombridge, Lalande, Krueger, Mayer, Weisse, Gould, Luyten and others. For example, Wolf 359 was discovered and catalogued by Max Wolf. Some binary stars are named after their discoverers, such as Delorme 1 and Luhman 16.
Various private organizations claim to name stars in honor of people in exchange for a fee, but these names are used only within their own publications, and are not recognized by the scientific community.
Names approved by the IAU
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is widely recognized by scientists and governments as the world authority for names of astronomical bodies, and lays down strict standards for this naming.
In July 2014 the IAU launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to exoplanets and their host stars,[1] the outcome of which was announced in December 2015.[2] As a result, the IAU approved two star names after individuals:[3]
In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[4] which will catalog cultural and historical names for bright stars to help preserve astronomical world heritage, and maintain a catalog of IAU-approved unique proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016[5] set out its terms of reference and naming guidelines. All approved names are included in the current IAU Catalog of Star Names.[6] The WGSN rules generally discouraged the naming of stars after people, but confirmed the names Cervantes and Copernicus as well as five others:
Fuyue for G Scorpii, a traditional Chinese name honoring Fu Yue.
Sualocin and Rotanev for components of Alpha and Beta Delphini, two stars which appeared in the Palermo star catalogue of 1814. They were eventually identified as the reversed spelling of Nicolaus Venator, a Latinised version of Nicolò Cacciatore, assistant to the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. It is not clear whether Piazzi intended to name the stars after his assistant, or if Cacciatore made the names up himself.
In 2019, the IAU held a second NameExoWorlds campaign to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IAU's founding. Four of the approved star names refer to real people:[10]
In the 2020s the IAU has further discouraged naming stars after people, with the 2022 NameExoWorlds campaign banning names of real people.[11] Nevertheless, one additional star name referring to a historical person has been approved:[6]
Apart from the few formally approved by the IAU, and leaving aside commercial attempts, stars named after individuals fall broadly into two groups. The first group are those named openly for an individual connected with them in some way. The second, somewhat more obscurely, are those named after an individual but without explicitly making this clear.
Openly named stars
There is a growing number of stars whose common names honour individuals. Many of these were highly significant in some way when discovered, usually through having some unusual characteristic. The best source to get these names is Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Volume 2 (Double Stars, Variable Stars, and Nonstellar Objects), in the chapter Glossary Of Selected Astronomical Names.
Abt's Star is SV Crateris (ADS 8115/ HD 98088/ β 600) in Crater. Named after Helmut Abt.[12]
Argelander's Second Star is Lalande 21185, a nearby red dwarf star. Named also for Argelander, who discovered its high proper motion in 1857.
Argelander's Third Star is Gliese 412, also known as Lalande 21258, a nearby binary pair of red dwarf stars. Also named for Argelander, who discovered its apparent high proper motion in 1860.
Bessel's Star is 61 Cygni, for a short time the nearest star whose distance was accurately known (measured by Friedrich Bessel in 1838). Also called Piazzi's Flying Star, since Giuseppe Piazzi nominated it as a good candidate for distance measurements (parallaxes).
Herschel's Garnet Star is Mu Cephei, a red supergiant particularly remarkable for its deep red color, first described by William Herschel. The IAU-approved name for this star is Garnet Star, without reference to Herschel.[6]
Hind's Crimson Star is R Leporis, a long-period variable star, named after the discoverer John Russell Hind. It is one of the reddest stars visible (a typical Cool Carbon Star, CCS).
Kepler's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1604 when first observed, after Johannes Kepler, who studied it extensively though he did not have priority of discovery.
Kurtz's Light Variable Star is HD 188136 in Octans.[12]
Kuwano's Object/Star has been used to refer to the nova-like object PU Vulpeculae.[12] The names "Kuwano's Object" and "Kuwano's Star" have also been used to refer to V1407 Aquilae and V4021 Sagittarii, respectively.[46] These are all named after Yoshiyuki Kuwano[ja].
Lamont's Star is a peculiar star near the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31).[47]
Latham's planet is the small red dwarf star or massive brown dwarf HD 114762 b in Coma Berenices, unofficially named Latham's planet after its discoverer David Latham (1989).[48]
Olbers' Star is a peculiar star in Virgo, at 13:14.1 / -16°33' (mentioned in the Deep-Sky Name Index 2000.0 by Hugh C. Maddocks) (Foxon-Maddocks Associates). Named after Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers. As seen from Earth, this star's location is very near galaxy NGC 5030.
Plaskett's Star (also designated HR 2422) is one of the most massive binary stars known, with a total mass of about one hundred times that of the Sun. It is named after John Stanley Plaskett, the Canadian astronomer who discovered its binary nature in 1922.
The Sanduleak–Stephenson Star/Object is also known as Sanduleak-Stephenson 433, SS 433 in Aquila, a neutron star in radio source W50. Named after Sanduleak and Charles Bruce Stephenson.
Scholz's star is a late-M dwarf + T-type brown dwarf (M9.5 + T5) system, discovered in 2013 by Ralf-Dieter Scholz. It has large parallax, but relatively small proper motion, and it is known for its close flyby to the Sun about 70,000 years ago.
Tycho's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1572, after Tycho Brahe, though he did not have priority of discovery.
Van Biesbroeck's Star is VB 10, a very small, faint, red dwarf named after George Van Biesbroeck, who discovered it in 1944 – the smallest and faintest star then known.
Walborn's Star is the Wolf–Rayet star BAT99-6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in Dorado. Named after Nolan R. Walborn.[12] It was found to be a binary between a slash star and an O-type main sequence star.[69]
Warren and Penfold's (WP) Star is the optical counterpart of X-3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Named after P. R. Warren and J. E. Penfold.[70]
Weaver's Star is SS 38, the third discovered symbiotic star with a carbon star as the cool component. Named after Wm. Bruce Weaver who first identified it as a symbiotic star in 1972.[71]
Wild's Supernova is SN 1966j in NGC 3198 (in Ursa Major). Named after Paul Wild.[28]
Some stars were given names that were disguised names of individuals, which names subsequently appeared in star catalogues and thus into more general usage.[citation needed]
The names stuck, perhaps in memoriam for their deaths in the Apollo 1 fire, and were used through the rest of the program.[citation needed] Unknown to Grissom, these stars already had traditional names; however, those were not generally used, allowing the three new names to make their way into other records.[citation needed] Today, they are generally considered disused—some sources listing them as "traditional".[citation needed]
It is possible, though unlikely, that further traditional names are in fact hidden names such as these, not yet identified.[citation needed]Etymologies for many star names are not currently known.[citation needed]
As early as 1979, when the International Star Registry was formed, private companies have attempted to sell the right to unofficially name stars.[75] These companies have no legal standing to assign any star a name, and as such these names are never recognized by the astronomical or scientific communities. The IAU does not recognize this practice, and on its website describes it as "charlatanry".[76]
↑ Burleigh, M. R.; Heber, U.; O'Donoghue, D.; Barstow, M. A. (10 February 2000). "The Schweizer-Middleditch star revisited". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 356: 585. arXiv:astro-ph/0002236. Bibcode:2000A&A...356..585B.
↑ Jones, Eric M. (1996), "Post-landing Activities", Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal, NASA, archived from the original on 20 March 2009, commentary at 105:11:33.
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