People living in South African have until 14 November to vote for the name of an exoplanet and its star. The initiative is part of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) 100th-anniversary commemorations.

The IAU announced the IAU100 NameExoWorlds project in June. Under the initiative, countries around the world will be allowed to give a popular name to an exoplanet and its host star.

South Africa has been given the planet WASP–62 b and its host star WASP–62.

“South Africa has an important relationship to WASP–62 b,” the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) states.

“The planet was discovered by SuperWASP, one of the telescopes near the town of Sutherland in the Northern Cape.”

WASP–62 b is giant gas planet with a diameter which is about 1.3-times that of Jupiter. This means that roughly 1,000 Earths could fit in the planet, the SAAO said. It orbits its parent yellow-white dwarf star, WASP–62, every 4.4 days.

It was discovered in 2012 by the SuperWASP telescope in Sutherland as it periodically blocks out a tiny fraction of WASP–62 as it moves in front of the star. WASP–62 is located in the constellation Dorado.

SAAO said that the distance between WASP–62 b and its star is 1/17th of the distance between the Earth and our Sun.

“Therefore WASP–62 b is too hot for liquid water to exist, and one has to assume there can be no life on it,” the SAAO said.

A panel of judges has shortlisted four pairs of names for people living in South Africa to choose from.

The Name ExoWorlds National Committee of South Africa is composed of nine members from various institutions, including the SAAO, Southern African Large Telescopes, Astronomical Society of South Africa, and the Department of Science and Technology.

A link to the ballot may be found on an SAAO subdomain. The four star-planet pair options are listed with their motivations below.

Naledi – Krotoa

Krotoa is considered a Mother of Africa, she suffered adversity and abuse but played an important role at the time of the arrival of the settlers. She deserves to be honoured in this way as it is most befitting to her. Naledi is a beautiful name it means star in Sesotho. Marries well with Krotoa and serves as a shining light to all humanity, especially women. Important at this time as women are taking a beating literally and figuratively!

Buchu – Sceletium

The theme chosen is fynbos of South Africa, as they are almost as numerous as the stars and as beautiful – a reflection of above so to speak. Our fynbos is unique and diverse with broad applications – much like the South African people. Plants in the Sutherland area were concentrated on.

Ubunye – Ingoma

“Diverse people unite”, that is the motto on our coat of arms. This naming scheme celebrates South African diversity by naming the planets after traditional South African dances, as the diverse planets unite in dancing around their star. ‘Ingoma’ is a popular dance in the Zulu tradition performed at important transition events in the person’s life. This dance, associated with transitions, is also appropriate for the name of the first exoplanet as it is reminiscent of the technique used to detect the planet orbiting its own star. The star, named ‘Ubunye’, meaning ‘unity’ in the isiZulu language, indicates that South Africans are united in our cause, while still being able to celebrate our unique and diverse cultural heritages. Future exoplanets orbiting ‘Ubunye’ can be named after traditional dances from our various other cultures, expanding on the theme of “diverse people unite”.

Roggeveld – Gannaga

The Roggeveld mountain range is near Sutherland and we feel that the place where the WASP-62 System was discovered should be celebrated in the name. The Gannaga pass is one of the passes crossing the mountain range and is fitting, as the detection of WASP-62b was obtained by the planet’s path crossing the star.

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