elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

Who wants to name an #asteroid?

... and where do those alphabet soup monikers come from?

The Science Museum in London has published a blog post on asteroid naming, and describing the #Hayabusa2 campaign to name asteroid 2001 CC21!

https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/want-a-chance-to-name-an-asteroid/

elizabethtasker, (edited )
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

Now look here, good people. Asteroid names need to be approved by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) and names of mythological origin for asteroids that pass close-ish to the Earth (i.e. NEOs) are STRONGLY PREFERRED.

Which is to say that if you want to propose "Asteroid McAsteroidFace", you first need to establish the appropriate god and spend time creating a folklore that sounds historically plausible.

WHERE IS YOUR DEDICATION?

ariaflame,
@ariaflame@masto.ai avatar

@elizabethtasker folk law or folklore?

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@ariaflame LAW! I stand by an autocorrect mistake 😉 Actually… I don’t… will take advantage of mastodon’s editing feature. Thanks!

conflummoxed,
@conflummoxed@mastodon.social avatar

@elizabethtasker - Wasn't Asteroid McAsteroidFace the Greek god of broken homes?

(Too soon?)

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@conflummoxed Because of problems with asteroids falling on houses?

conflummoxed,
@conflummoxed@mastodon.social avatar

@elizabethtasker - I was thinking more of the origin story where they likely came from a broken-up planet...but I suppose they could find a new home on Earth. Which...(checking notes)...would not be a good thing.

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@conflummoxed Ah, no! Asteroids are more typically left-overs from the planet formation process that never became a planet! Although there are exceptions, such as "Psyche", which will be visited by a NASA mission (with the same name).

adamhill,
@adamhill@hachyderm.io avatar

@elizabethtasker

So "Flying Spaghetti Monster" or "Bob" are totally in-bounds. Hmm....

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@adamhill Flying Spaghetti Monster needs to be squished into one word less than 16 letters... but apart from that... yes 😅

sundogplanets,
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

@elizabethtasker You saw this story, right? https://radiolab.org/podcast/zoozve

This is my favourite asteroid name, ever (and I say that as someone with an asteroid named after me! This one is way funnier)

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@sundogplanets Oh that's really interesting! I'd not seen it before. Thanks for this link. (Also you made me realise I should correct my post to say it's NEOs that need mythological names, not all asteroids!)

icastico,
@icastico@c.im avatar

@elizabethtasker

Roidy McRoidFace?

elizabethtasker,
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

@icastico Fortunately, blocked by IAU guidelines!

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