Hello All
This is pretty self explanatory. We have an opportunity to name a Planet after Maria MItchell. This is from Dr. Micheal West, former Director of MMO--now at Lowell.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the largest organization of professional astronomers in the world, is sponsoring a contest to rename 20 stars and their associated planets. The IAU is the official naming organization for astronomical bodies, and the public gets to vote on the names. One of my last acts before leaving MMA was to propose that a star currently known as Andromedae 14 be renamed ‘MariaMitchell’ and its accompanying planet be named ‘WilliamMitchell.’
Voting began online today and will continue until October 31st. PLEASE encourage everyone on Nantucket and beyond to vote in support of renaming the Andromedae 14 system as ‘MariaMitchell’ and ‘WilliamMitchell’ (e.g., get the word out via the eComet, Facebook, twitter, etc).
Here’s a link where you can vote to rename Andromedae 14 system in honor of Maria and William Mitchell
http://nameexoworlds.iau.org/systems/110
And here’s the general link to the IAU voting site in case you’d like to vote on names for other exoworlds too:
http://nameexoworlds.iau.org/exoworldsvote
Here’s an example tweet I sent a few minutes ago:
https://twitter.com/ACKstronomy/status/631356475407872000/photo/1
Please help get the word out so that we can honor Maria Mitchell in this special way!
Thanks
Gary
WGR