Star LoreNew Objects added to Star Lore
New Objects added to Star Lore
|
|
Star LoreNew Objects added to Star Lore |
Classic Star Lore was limited to the objects humans could see with the naked eye - about 5,000 stars,
five planets, the Sun, the Moon, the Milky Way and perhaps a handful of nebulae.
 But as soon as the first astronomers pointed their telescopes at the night sky, the universe got a lot bigger and a lot of new discoveries needed names. The first discoveries were still tied to classic Greek and Roman legends. For example, the four Galilean moons, discovered in 1610 were named after characters in Greek mythology that were at some point abducted or seduced by Zeus (who in Roman mythology became Jupiter). The first asteroids, discovered in 1801/02, too were named after Greek goddesses. And the moons of Mars, discovered in 1877, were named after two companions of the Greek God of War. But in the 20th century, focus shifted to more modern lore. Many of the objects discovered by the more recent generations of astronomers were named after things that were part of these astronomers' life - heroes from novels and films, cartoon characters and even paintings. And so, today, there are rocks on Mars named after comic book characters, quasars named after heroes and villains of a classical Western movie, asteroids named after characters from fantasy novels and an exoplanet named after a Rembrandt painting. Here are a few places and events I consider "Modern Star Lore." The list is by no means complete and only reflects my personal opinion. |
Snoopy on MarsSource: goodreads.com
|
|
The Star Mystery of Nicolaus Venator
In this author's opinion, the birth certificate of modern day star lore is the Palermo Star Catalogue of 1814. The catalogue was published by
Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (the discoverer of the dwarf planet
Ceres), but most of the work was done by Piazzi's assistant
Niccoló Cacciatore. Piazzi got the credit for the catalogue, but Cacciatore managed to have
his name preserved for eternity as he literally wrote it into the sky.
|
|
|
It took 45 years, until British astronomer Thomas William Webb solved the riddle. The Latinized version of Niccolò Cacciatore's name would be Nicolaus Venator (Nicholas Hunter in English) and Nicolaus Venator backwards spells Rotanev Sualocin. By then, the names had already been widely accepted and in 2016, they were officialy approved by the International Astronomical Union and Niccoló Cacciatore (or Nicolaus Venator) became the only astronomer in history, who managed to name a star (or rather two) after himself. Another star name mystery, created in 1948 by Czech astronomer Antonín Bečvář, still remains unsolved. Source: Wikipedia |
|
Martians and Little Green Men
With the publication of the Theory of Quantum Mechanics in 1900 and
the Theory of Special Relativity in 1905, the 20th century started
as a century of science. Soon, all the gods, demigods and mythical creatures that formed the base of classic star lore were seen as something archaic
and obsolete.
|
|
|
| Pretty soon, the line between fiction and reality got very blurry. |
|
Mars Canals
In 1877, Italian Astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed the surface of
Mars and named some of its features. Among them was a dense network of linear structures,
which he called canali, which is Italian for channels, meaning features of natural origin.
|
Schiaparelli's surface map of Mars.Source: Wikipedia
|
|
Project Blue Book
In times of old, when fairy tales dominated human imagination, people saw mythical beings everywhere. In modern times, the gnomes, ferries and dragons of
old have been replaced by UFOs and Little Green Men and news media get flooded with thousands of so-called UFO sightings
(UFO standing for unidentified flying object).
|
|
|
|
As a result of the Condon Report, the US Air Force terminated its UFO project in December 1969.
Project Blue Book examined a total of 12,618 reported sightings. 701 of those sightings remained "unidentified", all others had an explanation unrelated to extraterrestrial activities. Project Bue Book came to the following conclusions: 1. No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an indication of threat to our national security. 2. There was no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as "unidentified" represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge. 3. There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as "unidentified" were extraterrestrial vehicles.
In 2019, the history of Project Blue Book became a historical drama television series - and so, the legend continues.
|
|
The Star Mystery of the Atlas of the Heavens
In 1948, the Czechoslovak Astronomical Society published a star atlas called the
Atlas Coeli Skalnaté Pleso (Skalnaté Pleso Atlas of the Heavens). The charts were
hand-drawn by Czech astronomer Antonín Bečvář, who left a riddle in his
charts, that still remains unsolved.
|
Page of Atlas CoeliSource: Skalnaté Pleso Observatory |
|
If there was any meaning for these names, Bečvář took the answer to his grave. But that didn't stop the International Astronomical Union to officially adopt and approve seven of Bečvář's star names. The 14 stars are: |
|
Star
|
Bečvář's Name
|
Official Name
|
Star
|
Bečvář's Name
|
Official Name
| ||
| η Cas | Achird | Achird | β Crv | Kraz | Kraz | ||
| γ Vir | Arich | Porrima | δ Cas | Ksora | Ruchbah | ||
| γ Boo | Haris | Seginus | ν Dra | Kuma | - | ||
| ι Aur | Hassaleh | Hassaleh | γ Aql | Reda | Tarazed | ||
| ι Ori | Hatysa | Hatysa | δ Her | Sarin | Sarin | ||
| ζ Vir | Heze | Heze | ε Cas | Segin | Segin | ||
| δ UMa | Kaffa | Megrez | ε Dra | Tyl | - |
| Bold names indicaet Bečvář's star names approved by the IAU. |
 |
A Midsummer Night's Dream on Uranus
The five planets closest to Earth have been know since ancient times and at some point, the scientific community agreed to call them by the names given to
them by the Romans - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
|
Oberon and Titania dancing with the fairiesWilliam Blake, ca. 1786; Source: Wikipedia |
|
However, his name suggestion for the new planet, Georgium Sidus (George's Star) in honor of British king George the Third was rejected widely by the scientific
community. Eventually, astronomers settled for Uranus, a name suggested by Johann Elert Bode.
The name made sense as in Greek Mythology, Uranus was the father of Cronus (which in Rome became Saturn) and the grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter in Rome). Thus, the tradition of naming planets after ancient gods was restored. However, all but one planet go by their Roman names, only Uranus carries a Greek name - the Roman equivalent would have been Caelus. On January 11, 1787, six years after he had discovered Uranus, William Herschel discovered the first two of the planet's moons. Two more moons were discovered in 1851 by William Lassell. |
|
William Herschel didn't succeed naming the planet after a British monarch; now his son
John Herschel tried a different
approach. He named the moons after fictional characters, but he didn't use Greco-Roman mythology, but the works of two of Britain's greatest poets
and writers.
Titania and Oberon were named after the Fairy queen and king in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ariel and Umbriel got their names from a Sylph and a Gnome in Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock. The idea was accepted and today, all 27 known moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Pope. Source:Wikipedia, bobthealien.co.uk |
Ariel by Henry SingletonSource: tate.org.uk |
|
Mars Wind in the Willows
In a 2012 interview for Popular Science,
Mars Science Laboratory deputy project scientist Joy Crisp explained the reason behind naming
individual rocks on Mars:
"It's a practical thing to give these names so you can hold discussions. ...Instead of, 'You know the slightly browner rock with a round
edge, to the side of that long black rock?' This way, you can discuss the names and relate what you are finding out about them."
|
Mr. Toad;
Source: etsy.com
|
|
Seeing the Asteroid Belt Through The Looking Glass
Between 1874 and 1923 Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa discovered no less than
122 asteroids. One of them, 291 Alice he named after
Lewis Carroll's famous book
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
|
Alice in Wonderland, 1898 CoverSource:Wikipedia |
| 6042 Cheshirecat |
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat in
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, known for its distinctive mischievous grin.
| |
| 6735 Madhatter |
The Mad Hatter is one of the king's two messengers, one to fetch and one to carry.
He is one of only three characters, (the other two being Alice and the March Hare) to appear in both Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 6736 Marchare |
The March Hare is one of the king's two messengers, one to fetch and one to carry.
He is one of only three characters, (the other two being Alice and the Mad Hatter) to appear in both Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 7470 Jabberwock |
The Jabberwock is a mythical creature that is the subject of the classic nonsense poem
Jabberwocky in
Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 9387 Tweedledee |
Tweedledee was one of the twins in
Through the Looking Glass. When Alice meets him, he is standing under a tree with his arm round his brother's neck.
| |
| 9780 Bandersnatch |
The `frumious Bandersnatch' is a somewhat mysterious entity appearing in Lewis
Carroll's classic poem Jabberwocky.
| |
| 9781 Jubjubbird |
The Jubjub bird is a mysterious but apparently dangerous creature appearing
in Lewis Carroll's classic poem Jabberwocky.
| |
| 17472 Dinah |
Dinah is Alice's cat. The cat
never appears in the story, but Alice thinks about her and talks about her to the creatures she meets in Wonderland.
| |
| 17518 Redqueen |
The Red Queen is one of the chess pieces that make up the characters in
Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 17612 Whiteknight |
The White Knight is one of the chess pieces that make up the characters in
Through the Looking Glass. He and the Red Knight fight to decide whose prisoner Alice shall be.
| |
| 17627 Humptydumpty |
Humpty Dumpty, whose head and body together are egg-shaped, is not only
the subject of one of the most famous nursery rhymes in English but also a major character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland.
He tells Alice a lot about the meaning of words, including the strange ones in the poem Jabberwocky.
| |
| 17681 Tweedledum |
Tweedledum was one of the twins in
Through the Looking Glass. When Alice meets him, he is standing under a tree with his arm round his brother's neck.
| |
| 17712 Fatherwilliam |
In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Father William
is a character in a poem that a Caterpillar tells Alice to repeat.
| |
| 17746 Haigha |
Haigha is an alias of the March Hare, also commemorated as
6736 Marchare. The "double dipping" is justified as the March Hare is one of only
three characters (the other two being Alice and the Mad Hatter) to appear in both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 17759 Hatta |
Hatta is an alias of the Mad Hatter, also commemorated as
6736 Madhatter. The "double dipping" is justified as the Mad Hatter is one of only
three characters (the other two being Alice and the Mad Hatter) to appear in both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
| |
| 17768 Tigerlily |
In Through the Looking Glass, the Tiger-lily is a large flower. She
tells Alice that all the flowers can talk as well as Alice - and a great deal louder.
| |
| 17942 Whiterabbit |
The White Rabbit is where it all began.
When Alice hears the Rabbit talking to itself, she follows it down a huge rabbit-hole under a hedge, and her adventures begin.
| |
| Sources: JPL Small-Body Database Browser, Alice in Wonderland Wiki |
White Rabbit |
Mad Hatter |
March Hare |
Red Queen
|
|
Fictional Characters in the Asteroid Belt
Alice in Wonderland and Throuh the Looking Glass claim more asteroids than any other modern work of fiction, but they are not alone.
Here are some of the other modern fictional characters: |
Dr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes and Professor MoriartySource:commonwealtheatre.org |
| 2521 Heidi |
Eight year-old Heidi is the main character in a popular children's book by Swiss author
Johanna Spyri; published in 1881.
| |
| 2991 Bilbo |
Bilbo Baggins is the hero in J. R. R. Tolkien's
1937 novel The Hobbit. The tale of Bilbo's ring continues in the trilogy
The Lord of the Rings
| |
| 7896 Švejk |
The Good Soldier Švejk is a satirical dark comedy novel about the disintegrating
Austrian-Hungarian monarchy by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923.
| |
| 9007 James Bond |
Fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond (007) was a creation of novelist
Ian Fleming that has led to eighteen movies.
| |
| 12410 Donald Duck |
Donald Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at
Walt Disney Animation Studios and
later enhanced as a comic book character by Carl Barks.
| |
| 18610 Arthurdent |
Arthur Dent is the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams.
| |
|
29401 Asterix and 29402 Obelix |
Asterix and Obélix
are the heroes of the popular French comic series cartoon series Les aventures d´Asterix by
Albert Uderzo and
René Goscinny. Asterix (Star) was also the name of the first French satellite.
| |
|
29471 Spejbl and 29472 Hurvínek |
Spejbl and Hurvínek are famous
Marionettes created by Czech puppeteer
Jose Skupa. They are the stars of the
Spejbl-Hurvinek theater and have performed in 31 countries.
|
| For the full list, check Wikipedia's List of minor planets named after Characters in modern fiction. |
Bilbo Baggins© Sara Morello |
Švejk© Josef Lada |
Asterix and Obélix© Francisco Fontenelle |
Spejbl and Hurvinek
Schweriner Volkszeitung
|
|
|
The Apollo 1 Stars
When NASA started the Apollo program, astronauts selected
a number of easily identifiable stars and marked them in their navigational charts.
|
Stamp of Apollo 1 crew;
Equatorial Guinea, 1972
|
 Navi |
Dnoces |
Regor
|
|
|
Mount Marilyn
The night sky is full of love stories, written by the ancient Greek, Egyptians, Babylonians and Chinese. Here is a modern love story, written during the space race
(the race to the Moon):
On a side note: Apollo 10 commander Thomas Stafford put his hometown, Weatherford, Oklahoma on the Lunar map, naming a small crater near Mount Marilyn Weatherford (see picture right). |
Montes Secchi with Mount Marilyn marked ThetaSource: astronomy.com
|
 |
Fallen Astronauts
On July 21, 1969 before returning from the surface of the Moon, the crew of Apollo 11
placed a small package of memorial items to honor Soviet cosmonauts Komarov and Gagarin, and US astronauts Grissom, White, Chaffee.
|
Fallen Astronaut sculpture and plaque at the Apollo 15 landing site;
Wikipedia
|
|
Four of them died during space
flights, eight lost their lives in training, one perished in a car accident and one died of natural causes (see
here for details).
Source: Wikipedia Since 1968, several asteroids as well as features on the Moon, on Mars and on Venus have been named after men and women who gave their lives for the exploration of space. This section concentrates on astronauts who lost their lives in accidents related to the exploration of space. There are a number of lunar crates and asteroids named after other astronauts. |
|
Valentin Bondarenko
There should have been 15 names on the "Fallen Astronauts" plaque, but Soviet authorities kept Valentin Bondarenko's death a secret until 1980. On March 23, 1961, Bondarenko, the youngest of the 20 pilots selected for the Soviet Union's first group of cosmonauts became the first casualty of the space age when his low pressure chamber caught fire during training. In 1991, the IAU named a lunar crater on the far side of the Moon Bondarenko. Source: Wikipedia |
Valentin Bondarenko
|
|
Ted Freemann
Freeman Crater, a 54 miles wide crater on the far side of the Moon was the first extraterrestrial feature named after a fallen astronaut. In October 1963, Theodore Freeman was selected to NASA's Astronaut Group 3. A year later, he died in a plane crash during training. In December 1968, while Apollo 8 was orbiting the Moon, NASA named a crater a the boundary between the far and the near side of the moon Freeman Crater. The naming was widely reported, but the name has not been officially approved by the IAU. Sources: Wikipedia, The News Journal, Colin Burgess, Kate Doolan: Fallen Astronauts |
Theodore C. FreemanCape Kennedy Local Post, 1965 |
|
Apollo 1 Crew
On January 27, 1967, a fire during a ground exercise killed the Apollo 1 crew, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee (see above). Three craters on the far side of the Moon were named after the three astronauts. Source: Wikipedia |
Apollo 1 Crew Stamp; Ajman, 1970
|
Grissom Crater |
White Crater |
Chaffee Crater
|
|
Vladimir Komarov
Soviet Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in a crash on April 24, 1967, when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 spacecraft did not deploy during reentry. Asteroid 1836 Komarov and a crater at the far side of the Moon are named after the first cosmonaut who did not survive a space flight. Source: Wikipedia
Yuri Gagarin
|
Gagarin and Komarov;
russianspaceweb.com
|
Komarov Crater |
 Komarov stamp;
Equatorial Guinea, 1972 |
Gagarin Crater
|
|
Robert Lawrence
Another name missing on the "Fallen Astronauts" plaque (and in most other lists and publications) is that of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. Lawrence was the first African American pilot to be selected as an astronaut candidate. In July 1967 he was one of four pilots in the third group selected for the US Air Force's Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) project. On December 8, 1967, only six months after his selection, Lawrence died in a plane crash during training. Since Lawrence was selected by the Air Force and died before transitioning to NASA, his name would be missing on almost all astronaut lists, plaques and monuments for decades to come. Only on Dec. 8, 1997, on the thirtieth anniversary of his death, his name had been added to NASA's Space Mirror Memorial. |
Robert H. Lawrence Jr.;
NASA
|
|
In 1973, the IAU honored the first African-American astronaut, naming a
Lunar Crater collectively after him and after US-American physicist and Nobel laureate
Ernest Lawrence.
On January 27, 2021, asteroid 92892 Robertlawrence was named in his honor. In 2018 Lawrence was honored by artist Tavares Strachan with the first piece of art in Earth orbit. (Click here for the full story.) Sources: Wikipedia, NASA, NBC News / James Oberg, Encyclopedia Astronautica |
|
Soyuz 11 Crew
On June 29, 1971, the crew of Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11, consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev returned to Earth after having spent 23 days on board the space station Salyut 1. During re-entry, a faulty valve opened prematurely, causing rapid decompression and killing the crew. Asteroids 1789 Dobrovolsky, 1790 Volkov and 1791 Patsayev and three craters on the far side of the Moon are named after the crew of the first space stations. Source: Wikipedia |
 Soyuz 11 Crew Stamp;
Equatorial Guinea, 1972 |
Dobrovolskiy Crater |
Volkov Crater |
Patsyaev Crater
|
| In 1985 and in 2003, NASA and the world suffered the dramatic loss of two Space Shuttle crews. |
|
Challenger STS-51-L Crew
On January 28, 1986, US astronauts Dick Scobee, Michael J. Smith Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe where killed during the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, when one of its solid rocket boosters exploded. Only five days after the accident, on February 2, 1986, the Soviet Union announced that its space agency had named two impact craters on Venus after the two female crew members Judith Resnik and Christa McAuliffe. |
 Challenger stamp;
Hungary, 2003
|
|
In March 1986, the Minor Planet Center of the IAU announced that asteroids 3350 Scobee, 3351 Smith, 3352 McAuliffe, 3353 Jarvis, 3354 McNair, 3355 Onizuka and 3356 Resnik were named after the crew members. In 1988, the IAU approved a proposal to name seven interior craters within the Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon after the seven astronauts. On January 28, 2004, NASA named the landing site of the Mars rover Opportunity "Challenger Memorial Station." With that, the last crew of the shuttle Challenger is memorialized on Earth, Venus, Mars, Moon and in the Asteroid Belt. Sources: Wikipedia, New York Times, NASA |
|
Columbia STS-107 Crew
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry, killing all seven crew members, US astronauts Rick Husband William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, and Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. In August 2003, the Minor Planet Center of the IAU announced that asteroids 3350 Scobee, 3351 Smith, 3352 McAuliffe, 3353 Jarvis, 3354 McNair, 3355 Onizuka and 3356 Resnik were named after the crew members. In January 2004 NASA named the landing site of the Mars rover Spirit "Columbia Memorial Station." |
 Columbia stamp;
Hungary, 2003
|
|
A range of hills 1.9 miles from "Spirit's" landing site was named Columbia Hills. On February 2, 2004, seven individual peaks of the Columbia Hills were named after the seven astronauts of the Columbia tragedy. In 2006, the IAU approved a proposal to name seven interior craters within the Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon after the seven astronauts, thus, now there are monuments of the disaster on Earth, in the Asteroid Belt, on Mars and on the Moon. Source: Wikipedia |
Challenger Craters on the Moon |
Columbia Hills on Mars |
Columbia Craters on the Moon
|
|
|
Comic Book Convention on Mars
On July 4, 1997, Sojourner, the first Mars Rover , was deployed in Mars'
Ares Vallis. Over the course of 83 Martian days, during which the rover traveled
about 330 feet (100 m), the rover's team identified and named 160 rocks, which most likely makes the circle around the
Pathfinder lander the area with the most named features in the Solar System.
|
Barnacle Bill on Mars;
JPL / NASA
|
|
The Magnificent Seven
In 1990, a US-American Delta II rocket launched ROSAT, a German X-ray telescope
(which included instruments from the US and the UK).
|
|
|
The Salamanca Astronaut
On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons probe passed the
Pluto / Charon system and surprised the world with
amazing pictures of a world four and a half billion miles away from our own.
|
Salamanca Astronaut; atlasobscura.com
|
|
|
Dr. Who and Mr. Spock in Middle-Earth
On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons probe passed the
Pluto / Charon system and surprised the world with
amazing pictures of a world four and a half billion miles away from our own.
|
|
|
Oz Terra
A terra is an extensive landmass or highland. Charon's only highland region is named after the Land of Oz, the setting for L. Frank Baum's children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Very surprisingly, up until the naming of Oz Terra one of the most popular children's books ever written (not to mention the movie) had not been commemorated anywhere in the Solar System.
Vulcan Planum
|
Ozcommonsensemedia.org |
Vulcan Home WorldSource: denofgeek.com |
GallifreySource: Wikipedia |
MordorSource: pinterest.com |
|
Gallifrey Macula and Mordor Macula
A macula is a dark spot. One of Charon's maculae is named after Gallifrey, a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Gallifrey is the original home world of the the Doctor and of the Time Lords. The other one, a red area at the moon's north pole is named after Mordor, the realm and of the evil Lord Sauron in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, location of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Wikipedia provides a map with the location of all features. |
|
Dorothy Crater, the largest known impact basin Charon is another homage to The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, named after the book's main character,
Dorothy Gale.
Currently, there are seventeen named craters on Charon, all named after characters associated with science fiction and fantasy, ranging from Japanese, Hindi and Sufi folklore to Alice in Wonderland. Among them are several characters from popular movies and TV series like Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien, but also lesser known character's like Stanis³aw Lem's Pilot Pirx, one of the childhood heros of this author. At the same time as the craters, there were also one ridge, the McCaffrey Dorsum and three mountains, Butler Mons, Clarke Montes and Kubrick Mons, named after science fiction authors Anne McCaffrey, Octavia E. Butler and Arthur C. Clarke and after film director Stanley Kubrick. Source: spaceflightinsider.com |
The Tales of Pirx the Pilotamazon.com |
|
|
A Fleet of Seven Mythical Ships
Pluto was named after the Roman god of the underworld.
Thus, even before any details on or near the (then) planet were discovered it was clear, that new discoveries would have to follow the "underworld" theme.
|
Charon, the ferryman of the dead1861 painting by Alexander Litovchenko Source: Wikipedia |
| The fact that the Greek namesake of the Moon steered a mythical boat gave rise to a very creative naming idea: A chasma is a deep, elongated, steep-sided depression. So far, seven chasmata have been identified on Charon and all seven are named after mythical vessels - commanded by anybody from an ancient Egyptian sun god to a very modern Dr. Who: |
|
Argo Chasma
|
Named after the Argo, the ship in the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. | |
|
Mandjet Chasma
|
Named after Mandjed, the Solar barque used by the Egyptian sun god Ra. | |
|
Caleuche Chasma
|
Named after the Caleuche, a mythological ghost ship traveling off the coast of Chile. | |
|
Macross Chasma
|
Named after SDF-1, the spaceship in the Japanese Macross anime series. | |
|
Nostromo Chasma
|
Named after the Nostromo, the starship in the US Alien films. | |
|
Serenity Chasma
|
Named after the Serenity, the spaceship in the US Firefly TV series. | |
|
Tardis Chasma
|
Named after the TARDIS, the "Time And Relative Dimension In Space" machine in the British TV series Doctor Who. |
Argogreeklegendsandmyths.com |
Mandjet, tomb of Ramses ISource: pinterest.com |
CaleucheSource: Evil Fandom Wiki |
SDF-1 MacrossSource: pinterest.com |
NostromoSource: toyark.com |
SerenitySource: Wikipedia |
TARDISSource: BBC |
 |
Seriously: this author can absolutely imagine a Dr. Who episode uniting all seven ships in an epic adventure. |
|
A Messenger from far away and other Hawaiian oddities
In October 2017, astronomers at the Haleakalā Observatory on Maui, Hawaii discovered a strange
object on an hyperbolic trajectory that was later identified as the first known interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System.
|
Artist's concept of ʻOumuamuaSource: Hawaiian Airlines Magazine |
|
In 2019, two other objects, almost as strange and unusual as ʻOumuamua and also discovered at the Haleakalā Observatory
joined the family of Hawaiian astronomical oddballs:
469219 Kamoʻoalewa is a very small asteroid that on its path around the sun also circles Earth in an highly elliptical orbit. It is one of currently five known quasi-satellites of Earth. The name is a combination of Hawaiian words meaning "oscillating broken off object" referring to its motion in the sky as viewed from Earth and to it being most likely a broken off piece of a larger object. Source: Wikipedia
514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela is believed to be an
interstellar asteroid that was captured by the sun about 4.5 billion years ago.
|
|
|
Icarus - The Star at the other End of the Universe
Our next example of modern star lore takes us back to Greek mythology.
|
|
|
Patrick Kelly wanted to name the star Warhol, alluding to Andy Warhol's notion of having
15 minutes of fame, but the team settled for Icarus for being the furthest away from earth (i.e. flighing the highest).
Source: Wikipedia, University of California Berkeley |
|
Enoch - The Soul of the Forgotten Astronaut
In May 2014, Bahamas born artist Tavares Strachan started a project with the goal to launch the first
piece of contemporary art into space. Strachan's artwork was comprised of a 24-karat gold Egyptian style canopic jar, adorned with a bust of
Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the first African-American Astronaut candidate, who died in plane
crash in 1967, before he had a chance to fly into space. (See Fallen Astronauts story above).
|
Enoch; lacma.org
|
|
According to collectspace.com, Enoch, the name of the sculpture "... refers to a biblical figure in Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts who
never experienced mortal death, but instead ascended directly into the afterlife.
On December 3, 2018, the soul of the forgotten astronaut hitched a ride together with 63 other small satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It achieved a polar orbit and is expected to circle Earth for seven years. Sources: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, spectrum.ieee.org, collectspace.com, Gunter's Space Page |
|
|
Poems and Paintings
In 2019, the International Astronomical Union launched a project called
IAU100 Name ExoWorlds, celebrating the IAU's hundredth anniversary and the United Nation's
International Year of Indigenous Languages.
|
|
|
The Swedish choice is the only poem in the project.
The choice of the Netherlands is equally unique, selecting the only paintings in the project: Star HAT-P-6 in the constellation Andromeda was named Sterrennacht, Dutch for Starry Night, after a famous painting by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Planet HAT-P-6b was named Nachtwacht, Dutch for Night Watch, after a painting by Dutch painter Rembrandt. Sources: IAU100 Name ExoWorlds: Approved Names, space.com |
|
|
Back to Star Lore |
Back to Mythology |
 Back to Space Page |
Back to English |
 Back to Start Page |
