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"It's quite a big undertaking going through every named feature in the whole solar system and trying to find out who that person was."
When PhD student Annie Lennox discovered a crater on Mercury, she got the chance to name it. Which sent her on a bigger space mission.
Content note: this episode contains mentions of, but not descriptions of, sexual violence.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
There’ll be another hackathon next month to research all the space eponyms; if you’d like to get involved - all are welcome - then email Annie: aral4 (at) open (dot) ac (dot) uk.
She’s also doing an online talk about all this work on 13 March, reserve your free spot.
Annie recently published an article, ‘Change is needed to diversify space science — and it starts with a name’.
“Celestial nomenclature has long been a controversial topic” - the IAU’s guidance on how space features are named.
“Can I pay a fee and officially name a crater or other type of surface feature on Mars and other planets, the asteroids, moons and other solar system objects?”
“The IAU does not claim to own any celestial object or any part of the sky. Further, the United Nations has negotiated treaties for claims of property within the Solar System. Thus far, no international law has been passed which defines owning a piece of space or the objects within it.”
About Annie’s first crater’s namesake Lady Carolina Nairne, who “lived to do good, avoided publicity and sought the shade. From the scene of life she desired to pass away silently, there to be remembered only by her friends and relatives. When she died her powers as an authoress were known only to a few.”
Big year for Radiolab and space names!
Otherlusionists: all the eponymisodes!; scientists have a bit of fun with space terminology in Technobabble; the IAU pops up in the episode about naming Uranus; in Ravels, the town of Russell, Ontario chose to be named after different Russells to its original eponymous namesake; and Fiona parts 1 and 2’s mystery of a renowned Scottish writer. And, because Dune 2 just got released, listen to Verisimilitude, wherein Dune’s language constructor David J. Peterson describing what goes into constructing languages in fictional workds.
Since we’re on the subject of space: there’s a space-themed live Allusionist IN THE PLANETARIUM at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver BC on 18 April. The evening’s entertainments include a talk about space terms by astronomer Marley Leacock. Tickets are on sale now, at early bird prices until 28 March.
Congratulations to podfriend and alumsionist Imaginary Advice for reaching 100 episodes! There’s a cameo from me, and some other fave podcasters, in the big 100th.
Support the Allusionist at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes information about every episode, fortnightly livestreams with me and my dictionaries, regular watchalongs, and the charming company of the Allusioverse Discord community.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
regulus, noun, chemistry, archaic:
a metallic form of a substance, obtained by smelting or reduction.
Origin 16th century, from Latin, diminutive of rex, reg- ‘king’;
origin as ‘regulus of antimony’, apparently so named because of its readiness to combine with gold.
CREDITS:
Annie Lennox is a PhD student in planetary geology with The Open University. Get involved with her planetary hackathons by email the address up-post, and keep an eye on her Twitter @annieroseex for more info.
Thanks to Sheila Kanani and Adam Richardson.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social and instagram.com/allusionistshow
Back in two weeks with a new episode - HZ.
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