Blue Collar Scientist

Let’s cut right to the chase:

I am deeply privileged to have named asteroids after PZ Myers of Pharyngula; Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer; Rebecca Watson, founder of Skepchick; and Michael Stackpole, skeptic and science fiction author¹. Quick links to my thoughts on the names:

• PZ Myers
• Phil Plait
• Rebecca Watson
• Michael Stackpole

Please go off to their respective blogs and websites and offer these people the congratulations they richly deserve, and then come back to read the rest of the story.

…

As my handful of readers probably know, I’m an astronomer. I’ve done a bit of research on cataclysmic variable stars, active galactic nuclei, and asteroids. During the course of the asteroid work, my collaborator, Dave Healy, and I have discovered almost 500 asteroids.

Back in 2000 and 2001, I was involved day-to-day in an asteroid observing program in southern Arizona, at an observatory bearing the peculiar name Junk Bond Observatory. Its name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the way it was financed, but it is a serious place, with robotic 0.4 and 0.8 meter (16 inch and 32 inch) telescopes devoted to research every clear night.

On the night of November 23, 2001, I was sitting in the cold at the 16″ instrument, trying to debug one of the endless problems this telescope had. In the course of a test run of my latest attempt to overcome the problem, I took three images of a previously unknown asteroid. The following night, I followed up on the find, and reported it to the Minor Planet Center, at Harvard. Within a day or two, I was credited with having discovered (yet another) new asteroid.

When first discovered, asteroids get a “provisional designation” - the year followed by a letter-number code. After the asteroid is followed for a while, and an accurate orbit is determined - something that typically takes several years - the asteroid receives a number. Once an asteroid is numbered, it may be named. The naming process takes a few months, so the asteroid names I’m discussing today, which I learned had been approved by the IAU last Friday, were being worked on in December and January, and were formally proposed to the IAU in February.

The asteroid I discovered on November 23, 2000 was originally called 2000 WG11. It was followed for a few orbits, and eventually numbered 165347. Now, it is officially named Philplait - but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

By the following spring, most of the telescope’s problems were under control, either fixed with nuts and bolts, or worked around with clever software techniques. My collaborator, Dave Healy, observed for most of the month of March, including the latter half of the month. He discovered new asteroids in the same way I had, on March 22, 23, and 29. After being tracked for a few years, they were duly given numbers:

• 2001 FB10, discovered on March 22, was numbered 153289. It is now officially known as Rebeccawatson.
• 2001 FP86, discovered the following night on March 23, was numbered 165612. It is now officially known as Stackpole.
• 2001 FC122, discovered on March 29, was numbered 153298. It is now officially known as Paulmyers.

A peculiarity of astronomy is that by long-standing tradition, the person who discovers an asteroid gets to name it. In order to do so, the discoverer must write a short explanation of the proposed name (called a “name citation”), and send it to the International Astronomical Union for approval. The International Astronomical Union is the international authority for celestial nomenclature - what they say goes, and their decisions about naming are respected by astronomers worldwide. These are the same people that demoted Pluto from planet status a few years back, so it is best not to trifle with their power.

(The IAU’s activities in naming celestial objects stand in sharp contrast to the companies selling the opportunity to name a star after a loved one. While some may consider this practice to result in an entertaining and worthwhile novelty, the name has no official standing and will never be heard of or used by astronomers.)

The number of asteroids Dave and I have discovered that are numbered but not named has been growing over the last year or two, and Dave started bugging me to propose some names. Discussions and brainstorming ensued. I take the responsibility of naming an asteroid exceptionally seriously. An asteroid name is forever, as Phil Plait points out:

Think of it: unless some future astronaut mines it, a billion years from now that rock will still be orbiting the Sun. Itʼs almost literally a piece of immortality.

I feel as though I have to give some careful consideration to the matter, and to choose names that are meaningful and important in some way. My longstanding interest in skepticism and in science education had previously resulted in me naming asteroids after Derek Colanduno and Robyn “Swoopy” McCarthy, the hosts of Skepticality, who had pioneered the new media of podcasting and put it to service for skeptical thinking. It seemed logical to continue the practice.

The next few postings to my blog will be about the people I chose to name asteroids after - and their namesake space rocks.

1. I’ve listed them in order of Technorati “authority.” [↩]

Tags: asteroids, Bad Astronomy, michael stackpole, Pharyngula, Phil Plait, PZ Myers, Rebecca Watson, skepchick, the bad astronomer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under astronomy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.