[meteorite-list] IAU Concerns and Considerations with the Naming of Mars Craters

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:29:14 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201403111629.s2BGTEEm003499_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1402/

Concerns and Considerations with the Naming of Mars Craters
IAU News Release
11 March 2014, Paris

Recently initiatives that capitalise on the public's interest in space
and astronomy have proliferated, some putting a price tag on naming
space objects and their features, such as Mars craters. The
International Astronomical Union (IAU) would like to emphasise that such
initiatives go against the spirit of free and equal access to space, as
well as against internationally recognised standards. Hence no purchased
names can ever be used on official maps and globes. The IAU encourages
the public to become involved in the naming process of space objects and
their features by following the officially recognised (and free) methods.

In order to make sure that all scientists, educators and the general
public "speak the same language", astronomers from the International
Astronomical Union have agreed on common standards for naming space
objects, features or phenomena so that they can be easily located,
described, and discussed. For instance, features on a given planet or
satellite receive names chosen from a particular theme. Only those
features that are deemed to be of significance to science are given a
name by the community, thus leaving other features to be named by future
generations.

Although the present rules are that the general public cannot request
that a particular feature is named, they can do so following a public
invitation from a space agency or from the discoverers. This was the
case for NASA's Magellan Venus mapping mission launched in 1989: the
public was invited to offer names of women who had made outstanding or
fundamental contributions to their fields, for the names of Venusian craters.

A more recent example was the naming of the two most recently discovered
satellites of Pluto in 2013, which was the result of a public vote. The
selected names were approved
<http://iau.org/public_press/news/detail/iau1303/> in cooperation with
the IAU and free and equal participation was offered to the general
public. For Mars craters today, only their "discoverers", the space
agencies, may take the initiative to involve the public in the naming
process, in cooperation with the IAU and following international
regulations.

In 1919, when the IAU was founded, it was given the official mission
to establish internationally recognised planet and satellite nomenclature.
The objective at the time was to standardise the various confusing systems
of nomenclature for the Moon that were then in use. Since that time, the
IAU has succeeded in constructing a single, reliable, official catalogue
of surface feature names, thus enabling successful international public
and scientific communication. The IAU played a key role in getting the
USSR and the USA to agree on naming rules for lunar features
<http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.../19780004017_1978004017.pdf>
even during the space race of the sixties.

Today, the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN),
representing the worldwide astronomical community, provides a unique
system of official names for Solar System objects (planetary surface
features, natural satellites, dwarf planets, and planetary rings) for
the benefit of the international science community, educators, and the
general public. To read more about the naming of objects in space,
please visit the IAU theme Naming Astronomical Objects
<http://www.iau.org/public/naming/>.

The IAU encourages entities wishing to promote space science and
exploration to follow these internationally accepted rules and explain
them as part of their space education and exploration programmes.

More information

The IAU is an international astronomical organisation of more than 10
000 professional astronomers from more than 90 countries. Its mission is
to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects
through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the
internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to
celestial bodies and their surface features.

Links

    * For more information on the IAU policy of naming solar system
      objects, especially Mars craters, see the WGPSN web page
      <http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/HotTopics/index.php?/archives/516-Can-I-Pay-a-Fee-and-Officially-Name-a-Crater-or-Other-Type-of-Surface-Feature-on-Mars-and-Other-Solar-System-Objects.html>

    * IAU theme on Naming of astronomical objects
      <http://www.iau.org/public/naming/>


Contacts

Thierry Montmerle
General Secretary, International Astronomical Union
Paris, France
Email: montmerl at iap.fr

Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Garching bei Munchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 320 06 761
Cell: +49 173 38 72 621
Email: lars at eso.org
Received on Tue 11 Mar 2014 12:29:14 PM PDT