The IAU100 NameExoWorlds Competition Rules
The proposed names should be of things, people, or places of long-standing cultural, historical, or geographical significance, worthy of being memorialized through naming of a celestial object.
Although not necessary, the names may be drawn from themes related to the sky and astronomy, or related in some way to the constellation that the exoplanetary system lies in.
Two names should be proposed – one for the exoplanet and one for the star it orbits.
The two names should follow a common naming theme. The naming theme describing how the names are related in some logical way should be summarized in a sentence or two, and be broad enough that additional names could be drawn from the literature to name additional objects in that exoplanetary system in the future (eg additional planets which might be discovered, additional stellar companions). Example: Rivers of country XYZ. Fictional lands in 19th century stories from country XYZ , etc.
1. Proposed names (after translation) should be:
- Between 4 and 16 characters in length in Latin alphabets (including spaces or punctuation)
- Preferably one word.
- Pronounceable (in some language)
- Non-offensive
- Not identical to, or too similar to, an existing name of an astronomical object.
Names already assigned to astronomical objects can be checked using these links:
i. IAU names for asteroids in the Minor Planet Center (MPC) database
ii. Names of galactic and extragalactic objects in the Sesame name resolver
iii. IAU names for planets, dwarf planets, and satellites:
iv. IAU names for stars
v. IAU names for exoplanets
In addition, it is not allowed to propose:
- Names of a purely or principally commercial nature.
- Names of individuals, places or events principally known for political, military or religious activities.
- Names of individuals who died less than a century ago (1919).
- Names of living individuals.
- Names of organizations related to the selection.
- Names of pet animals.
- Contrived names (ie new, invented).
- Acronyms.
- Names that include numbers or punctuation marks (diacritics are acceptable)
2. Only names that are not protected by trademarks or other forms of intellectual property claims may be proposed.
3. All the proposal names should come with a citation of not more than 100 words in English after translation.
4. It is understood that the selected public names, will not replace the scientific alphanumeric designations, but will be recognised by the IAU as the appropriate publicly used name for the object(s), and be published as such, along with due credit to the proposer that proposed it. This public name may then be used internationally along with, or instead of, the scientific designation, permanently and without restrictions.