IAU: Yes, NOW You Can Name That Exoplanet

Today, for the first time ever, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has officially opened its worldwide public contest to name a selection of well-known exoplanets.

ANALYSIS: IAU: No, You Can't Name That Exoplanet

Called "NameExoWorlds," the contest is open to clubs and non-profit organizations to come up with 20 nominations of names for worlds orbiting other stars. Exercising its right as the internationally-recognized body for officially naming celestial bodies - a task that is usually done behind closed doors by the discoverers, astronomers and committees - the IAU will take on the public's naming selections from around the world and add the winning crowd-sourced names to existing stellar and exoplanet designations.

The rules and regulations surrounding NameExoWorlds are listed in the IAU's July announcement.

In partnership with Zooniverse, the Internet's most successful citizen science project, the IAU created NameExoWorlds in response to the overwhelming public interest in exoplanetary studies. Although the first extra-solar planets were discovered in 1992, it wasn't until the launch of NASA's prolific Kepler space telescope in 2009 that the hunt for small alien planets orbiting other stars became a mainstream passion.

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With Kepler identifying the lion's share of nearly 2,000 confirmed exoplanets so far, public interest is high and when next-generation observatories start to probe the atmospheres of worlds within the habitable zones of their stars over the coming years, one can only imagine the impact of exoplanetary studies on our society, especially if a true Earth-like world is revealed.

The idea of crowd-sourcing exoplanetary names is not new, however.

The US-based group Uwingu runs an exoplanet-naming project that asks members to nominate and vote on exoplanetary names for a fee. Ultimately, the revenue generated from public engagement is used to fund science grants. However, in 2013, the IAU announced that it would not officially recognize independent exoplanet-naming projects - although Uwingu wasn't specifically named.

ANALYSIS: No Alien Signals Detected From Kepler's New Exoplanet

Whether or not projects like Uwingu forced the IAU's hand into recognizing that public engagement in the exoplanet-naming game is a good thing will probably never be known.

But the search for exoplanets, particularly alien worlds with an Earth-like flavor, has resonated with the world and it seems inevitable that we, as a species, will have a vested interest in one of the most profound scientific journeys our civilization has ever pursued.

For more information of how you and your organization can be involved, browse the IAU announcement.

This artist’s impression was originally created to show the planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth.