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comet nomenclature questions



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 15th 05, 01:09 AM
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Default comet nomenclature questions

1. Quoting from the 'VdS-Fachgruppe Kometenweb' site
(http://www.fg-kometen.de/fgk_hpe.htm):

'Eric J. Christensen (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) reports his
discovery of a new comet on June 13, 2005, in the course of the Mt.
Lemmon Survey. After posting on the NEO Confirmation Page J. E. McGaha
(Tucson) was able to confirm the cometary nature of the 19m object.
Pre-Discovery images by Spacewatch of June 03, 08, and 12, were also
identified. The first orbit for comet P/2005 L4 (Christensen) shows a
perihelion on Aug. 24, 2005, at about 2.4 AU. The period is about 8.3
years. This is the first comet discovery by the Mt. Lemmon Survey.'

And:

'Rik Hill reported his discovery of a new comet on June 7, 2005, in the
course of the Catalina Sky Survey. This was confirmed by C. W.
Hergenrother (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory) on images taken with the
University of Arizona 1.54-m Kuiper telescope. The MPC was then able to
link this comet to the apparently asteroidal object 2005 JY126, which
was also found by Catalina on May 12, 2005. Further prediscovery images
of April 17, 2005 (Catalina) and May 09, 2005, (Spacewatch) were also
found. The orbit for the 17.5m comet P/2005 JY126 (Catalina) indicates
a perihelion on Feb. 21, 2006, at about 2.1 AU. The period is about 7.3
years. This is the 19th comet discovery by Catalina.'

My question is: why did the IAU assign the name 'Christensen' to P/2005
L4 (rather than 'Mt. Lemmon'), while P/2005 JY126 was named 'Catalina'
(rather than 'Hill')? In both cases the comet was found during the
course of a survey, but one comet was named for a person and the other
for the survey. This seems inconsistent.

2. In light of the fact that the era of amateur comet discoveries
appears to be very near an end, do you think the IAU will ever re-visit
the issue of comet naming, so that not all comets will have names like
'LINEAR' and 'SOHO'? It seems likely that eventually some mega-survey
is going to come along and sweep up all comets once they brighten above
20th magnitude, and then every new comet will have the same name. At
this point the assigning of names in addition to designations will be
superfluous. Perhaps IAU will re-consider and once again begin naming
comets for the first person to 'note the detection' by these surveys?

  #2  
Old June 17th 05, 12:56 AM
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And eventually I think some marketing person is going to come up with
this idea: corporate sponsorship of astronomical surveys. Suppose
Wal-Mart, for example,. decides to fund the "Wal-Mart All-Latitude
Malignant Asteroid Research Telescope (WALMART); then we'll end up with
comets with designations like "P/2008 A1 (WALMART)". Yuck!

  #4  
Old June 18th 05, 01:28 AM
canopus56
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wrote:
snip

My question is: why did the IAU assign the name 'Christensen' to P/2005
L4 (rather than 'Mt. Lemmon'), while P/2005 JY126 was named 'Catalina'
(rather than 'Hill')? In both cases the comet was found during the
course of a survey, but one comet was named for a person and the other
for the survey. This seems inconsistent.


I feel the assignment of new celestial names is best handled by a
reputable independent scientific body. It is the best compromise
solution and defense against the evil of allowing commercial interests
creeping into the process. Perhaps Hill has a daughter or wife named
"Catalina" and asked the IAU that the discover's suggested name be
assigned to that, rather than to his personal name. Many names may
simply end up as abbreviation of the discover's name because the
discover does not care to exercise their privilege of suggesting an
alternate name.

Small body, minor planet, planet and star names are assigned by the
International Astronomical Union. It is a two-step process. The IAU's
Minor Planet Center assigns a provision designation based on the year
and month of discovery. Later, a final designation is assigned by
another IAU committee. The discover is given the privilege of
suggesting a supplemental text name. The following are some excerpts
from IAU FAQs on the naming process. For further reading, the IAU FAQs
are collected at the IAU FAQ page -

Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.iau.org/IAU/FAQ/

"The Minor Planet Center [a division of IAU] assigns new provisonal
designations when it is in possession of at least two nights of
observations of an object that cannot be identified immediately with
some already designated object."

from http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/info/OldDesDoc.html
New- And Old-Style Minor Planet Designations

"The discoverer of a particular object has the privilege of suggesting
a name to a special Committee of the IAU that judges its suitability.
Contrary to some recent media reports it is not possible to buy a minor
planet. If you have a name you would like to apply to a minor planet,
the best advice is 'Go out and discover one!'."

"All proposed names are judged by the fifteen-person Committee for
Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) of the IAU, comprised of professional
astronomers with research interests connected with Minor Planets and/or
comets from around the world."

from http://www.iau.org/IAU/FAQ/MPdesignation.html
How Minor Planets are Named

- Canopus56

  #5  
Old June 18th 05, 04:25 AM
Mark Gingrich
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"canopus56" wrote:

... Perhaps Hill has a daughter or wife named "Catalina" and asked
the IAU that the discover's suggested name be assigned to that, rather
than to his personal name.



I suspect the name has more to do with the discovery being made
under the aegis of the Catalina Sky Survey, some of which is done
at Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, atop Mount Lemmon.

 




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