AaS! 206: What are the Weirdest Names in Astronomy?
Ask a Spaceman!
Paul M. Sutter
4.8 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
What are some wild stories behind names in astronomy and physics? How did we get the jargon words that we did? What are some of the funniest names? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the fabulous ages of ancient times, the appellations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were given to the planets, as being the names of their principal heroes and divinities. |
| 0:24.3 | In the present, more philosophical era, it would hardly be allowable to have recourse to the same |
| 0:32.1 | method, and call it Juno, Palace, Apollo, or Minerva, for a name to our new heavenly body. |
| 0:40.7 | The first consideration of any particular event or remarkable incident seems to be its chronology. |
| 0:48.8 | If in any future age it should be asked when this last-found planet was discovered, |
| 0:57.2 | it would be a very satisfactory answer to say, in the reign of King George III. |
| 1:03.2 | That was written by astronomer William Herschel, to his friend who had prompted him to do the astronomical community a favor and give a name to his |
| 1:15.2 | newly discovered planet. And so Herschel complied, naming this new planet Georgiancytis, or |
| 1:23.6 | George's star. Partly for patriotic reasons, partly for the reasons outlined in his letter, and also partly, |
| 1:31.7 | I'm just guessing here, that King George III, the King of England at the time, just happened |
| 1:36.6 | to be giving Herschel a stipend in lots of special favors and access. |
| 1:42.8 | That was shortly after 1781, when William Herschel had discovered this new planet. |
| 1:49.1 | And here we are, almost 250 years later, and we certainly do not call that planet Georgia's |
| 1:55.1 | star. |
| 1:56.1 | And to be quite frank, most people don't even remember King George III himself. |
| 2:00.3 | He gets a special note in American |
| 2:02.4 | history classes as the guy we rebelled against, I suppose, but not much else. And for decades after |
| 2:09.5 | 1781, various names were floated around for this new planet, Estreya, Sybil, Neptune, |
| 2:15.6 | Minerva. But it was another friend of Herschels, Johann Bode, |
| 2:19.8 | that suggests the name that eventually stuck. Uranus, the father of Saturn in Roman mythology. |
| 2:27.8 | And remember, Saturn, in turn, was the father of Jupiter. So it made a good amount of sense, and it just seemed to click. Notwithstanding |
| 2:37.5 | the awkward fact that Uranus was just the Latin translation of the original Greek name, |
... |
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