Podaster: Dr. Pamela Gay; Guest: Latif Nasser.
Title: Escape Velocity Space News – EVSN: Quasi Moon Naming Contest!
Organization: Cosmoquest
Link: http://dailyspace.org/ ; https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau2406 ; https://radiolab.org/moon-official-rules
Description:
The International Astronomical Union and WNYC’s award-winning science podcast, Radiolab, invite people worldwide to take the unique opportunity to suggest a name for one of Earth’s quasi-moons, 2004 GU9. Submissions are open until 30 September and the winning name will receive official recognition by the IAU.
Bio: Dr. Pamela Gay is a Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute and a Director of CosmoQuest.
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Transcript:
For millennia, people across the globe have built deep connections to objects in the night sky, assigning them names and stories imbued with their cultural heritage and understanding of the world. Naming campaigns highlight these connections and provide the global public with a chance to have their creativity embedded in the cosmos.
Earlier this year, Latif Nasser, co-host of the science podcast Radiolab ( https://radiolab.org ), petitioned the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to name a quasi-moon of Venus after noticing a typo on a map of the Solar System. The saga was documented on a Radiolab episode and tweet thread from Nasser that went viral, opening the door for listeners to learn more about this fascinating class of objects. The episode established a connection between the IAU and Radiolab, which is produced by WNYC Studios [1]. The organisations have now teamed up to invite a global audience to engage with this field of astronomy through a new naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons.
Quasi-moons of a planet are asteroids that orbit the Sun and follow a path similar to that of the planet. Due to the relative motion of the two objects, it appears as though the asteroid is orbiting the planet from the perspective of an observer on the planet’s surface. If a quasi-moon is near the Earth, it might seem as if we have a new moon, even though it is hardly affected by the Earth’s gravitational pull.
By taking part in “Name a Quasi-Moon!”, people worldwide will have the chance to leave their mark on our sky with official recognition from the world’s authority responsible for assigning names to objects in our Solar System and beyond. By involving the IAU’s wide international network, the collaboration will reach new audiences, ensuring our sky will be more representative of the world’s diverse ideas, cultures, perspectives, and ways of knowing.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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