We live in a galaxy that contains over a hundred billion stars. Recent estimates from astronomers say that there are more planets than stars. This results in a staggering amount of planets in our Milky Way. So apart from the eight planets in our Solar System, there are many more - and when we say many, we mean what we say!
With such a large number, odds are that there are a few weird ones amongst them. You have your Jupiter-sized planets, your Earth-sized planets, and your ultrasmall planets. Some planets are super far away from their host star, while others are very close in the sweltering heat of their sun. There are gassy planets, rocky planets, icy planets and watery planets, that orbit white dwarfs, red giants, brown dwarfs, blue supergiants, yellow dwarfs or any other type of star.
The funny thing is that there are so many planets out there, that even the one from your wildest imagination probably exists. How about a Tatooine-like star, with two suns? Yes! Or a scorching hot planet with temperatures reaching thousands of degrees Celsius? Check! But surely there can’t be a planet that is almost as old as the Universe itself? Well, think again!
However, as exciting as these planets may sound, their names couldn’t be more boring: Kepler-16b, CoRoT-7b and PSR B1620-26b. They each could use a prettier name to boost up their image. And this is where you come in! The International Astronomical Union (IAU) annouced that it will give the public the honour of naming 305 well-characterised planets. You can find the list here (scroll down).
In October of this year, astronomy clubs and non-profit organizations from all over the world can come up with and submit names for between 20 and 30 exoplanets. From September onwards you can register for this. In the end, each organization is allowed to name one planet. The results will be announced at a special public ceremony held during the IAU XXIX General Assembly in Honolulu, USA on 3–14 August 2015.
Let the creativity flow and good luck!
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