Crowdsourcing the galaxy

A nameless planet (top left) and its star

THE names of the planets reflect the history of the Earth. Five—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—were known in antiquity. The titles they now bear were chosen by the most powerful and influential civilisation of the classical era, Rome. The others, Uranus, Neptune and, until its demotion in 2006, Pluto, were discovered by Westerners, who saw themselves as Rome’s heirs and decided they would carry on the tradition (though Uranus is named after a Greek god, rather than a Roman one).

In 1992, however, astronomers discovered their first exoplanet—one that orbits a star other than the sun. Nowadays they are swimming in the things. Almost 2,000 have had their existence confirmed. Nearly 5,000 possible others await verification.

None has a name so poetic as those in the solar system. Most people use the prosaic labels assigned by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the group of celestial bureaucrats which decided that Pluto should no longer be counted as a planet. The IAU’s names are more functional than memorable: 51 Pegasi b, for instance, or Kepler-186f...

from The Economist: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1INJ3wD