Well, it took patience, but some thirty-odd extrasolar planets have finally been given proper, human-readable names.
The names are as follows:
Epsilon Tauri (Ain) - Amateru
Iota Draconis (Edasich) - Hypatia
Gamma Cephei (Errai) - Tadmor
Fomalhaut - Dagon
Pollux - Thestias
Epsilon Eridani (Ran) - AEgir
Mu Arae (Cervantes) - Quijote, Dulcinea, Rocinante, Sancho
Upsilon Andromedae (Titawin) - Saffar, Samh, Majriti
Xi Aquilae (Libertas) - Fortitudo
14 Andromedae (Veritate) - Spe
18 Delphini (Musica) - Arion
42 Draconis (Fafnir) - Orbitar
47 Ursae Majoris (Chalawan) - Taphao Thong, Taphao Kaew
51 Pegasi (Helvetios) - Dimidium
55 Cancri (Copernicus) - Galileo, Brahe, Lippershey, Janssen, Harriot
HD 81688 (Intercrus) - Arkas
HD 104985 (Tonatiuh) - Meztli
HD 149026 (Ogma) - Smertrios
PSR 1257+12B (Lich) - Draugr, Poltergeist, Phobetor
Here, for convenience's sake, are the names I voted for:
Ain/Epsilon Tauri - Namida
Edasich/Iota Draconis - Foros
Errai/Gamma Cephei - Kharoof
Fomalhaut - Labroides
Pollux - Leda
Epsilon Eridani - Ran, Aegir
Mu Arae - Lusitania, Caravela, Adamastor, Esperanca, Saudade
Tau Bootis - Asuka, Kitora
Upsilon Andromedae - Rayeta, Moltina, Dolasilla, Luyanta
Xi Aquilae - Gobidin, Ewinon
14 Andromedae - Gwendolen, Hafren
18 Delphini - Arion, Koto
42 Draconis - Victor, Byurakan
47 Ursae Majoris - Atsuta, Miyasuhime, Shirotori
51 Pegasi - Helvetios, Dimidium
55 Cancri - Scyllae, Tachypleus, Birgus, Lithodes, Uca
HD 81688 - Kimunkamuy, Heper
HD 104985 - Goban, Fuseki
HD 149026 - Opuntia, Cycla
PSR 1257+12B - Lich, Draugr, Poltergeist, Phobetor
Ultimately, my votes didn't match up with the results that closely. Yet I'm not nearly as disappointed at that occurrence as I would've expected in this scenario. Despite a lot of silly names being proposed, the end results are actually quite agreeable for me.
Some observations:
-Lich and its accompanying planets are the ones I most wanted to see named what they did. Possibly because someone put real effort into finding a common theme to the names that also tied into the nature of these planets - in this case, planets orbiting an "undead" star.
-It's a real shame we won't be calling 51 Pegasi b "Bellerophon" anymore, most likely due to a technicality. I get that scientific names should be unambiguous, but science should also be accessible to the layman. I don't think it's unreasonable to reuse minor planet names for extrasolar planets. Still, I'm grateful for the consolation that my vote won.
-"Orbitar" is basically a made-up word. I should be grateful it appears to be the only such name to win.
-"AEgir", with the capital E, is not a typo. Apparently "Aegir" refers to a moon of Saturn but "AEgir" refers to the exoplanet. So if we called 51 Pegasi b "BEllerophon", would that make you happy, IAU?
-For reasons unknown, the IAU refrained from giving a name to Tau Bootis b. It will probably get a do-over vote next time a vote is held.
All in all, I am very excited about what this vote represents. It may not seem like much to name planets we know next to nothing about, but the fact of the matter is, we know about as much about these planets as astronomers of centuries past knew about the planets in our solar system. In a way, we are living out a new astronomical age of discovery.
This initiative to name new planets could change our view of the universe. Stars in our galaxy, though far, far, away, hopefully will no longer be seen as abstract concepts but as real locations to be visited one day. I hope that the enthusiasm for exoplanetology will increase. I'm filled with new hope that giving these planets proper names will forcefully awaken a paradigm shift in how people view the universe.
I feel like there's something else I should be doing this weekend...
