Another opportunity to name something in astronomy!

Following my post a few weeks ago about an opportunity from NASA to name some of the newly discovered craters on Mercury it has been great to hear some of the suggestions you've put forward.

If you missed out on this opportunity to name something in astronomy (sorry the deadline has now passed), but wanted to name something then I have good news for you, there's another opportunity!

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) wants your help to name exo-planets! Exoplanets are planets around stars other than our Sun. In the last decade astronomers have discovered hundreds of planets around nearby stars, thanks to dedicated instruments and space telescopes.

Would you like to name this exoplanet? (Credit: IAU)

The IAU is the governing body tasked with naming objects in the Universe and they want help from members of the public to name these exoplanets. Although people have been naming celestial objects for hundreds of years, the IAU has been given the task of assigning scientifically recognised names to newly discovered objects.

The IAU has called this the NameExoWorlds contest, and the first round of the competition is open to clubs and non-profit organisations from anywhere in the world. To participate in this competition all your club has to do is register with the IAU (which you can do here) and then submit your nominations. The first stage of the nomination process is to choose which new exoplanets to name (you can do this here), and then in the second stage the IAU will seek nominations for their names. Finally, once all the nominations are in the public will be allowed to vote for the nominated names.

But hurry, the deadline for the first stage of the competition is the 15th of February 2015!

Ever wanted to name something in astronomy?

Have you ever wanted to name a star? Or a planet? Or maybe a whole galaxy? Maybe you paid someone to name a star for you and even received an offical-looking certificate in the post to prove it, only to then find out that no-one actually used your name.

Well if this sounds familiar, then I have some good news for you! The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has launched a competition to officially decide names for five new impact craters discovered on the planet Mercury, and they need your help to do this!

A map of Mercury's surface taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft, showing all the impact craters (Credit: NASA)

The impact craters were discovered by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft, which has been orbiting the planet Mercury since March 2011. The spacecraft is only the second mission to successfully reach Mercury, and is the first to orbit the planet, which is quite an achievement due to how close Mercury is to the Sun!

The mission has been an immense success. Since the spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mercury four years ago it has been continually studying and imaging the planet's surface. Using these images scientists have discovered many new features on the surface of Mercury that were previously unknown, including lots of new impact craters.

It is important that these craters, which are of great scientific interest, be named in the long-held tradition of naming astronomical objects and features. Impact craters on Mercury are traditionally named after important people in the arts and humanities from anywhere in the world.

So the IAU would like your help in nominating who to name these craters after. According to their rules they will accept nominations for names of people in the arts and humanities who have been famous for at least 50 years and have been dead for at least 3 years (so no self-nominations unfortunately). You can find a list of existing named craters on Mercury here.

You can submit your nomination here: http://namecraters.carnegiescience.edu. Nominations are open until 15 January 2015.