Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

While astronomers await the fireworks from Periodic Comet Shoemaker-Levy
9 as it hits the atmosphere of Jupiter, comets are already making sparks
fly down here on Earth. The hot issue is just whose names should go on which
comet, or if anyone’s name should go on them at all. Members of the International
Astronomical Union will take up the question next month, at a meeting in
The Hague.

Comets are named after their discoverers, hence the name Shoemaker-Levy
9, which was found by astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker, her husband, geologist
Gene Shoemaker, and amateur astronomer David Levy. The trio scan the heavens
at California’s Palomar Observatory, and the ‘9’ indicates that it is the
ninth comet they have found with a period of less than 200 years.

There are 13 comets named Shoemaker-Levy but there may not be many more.
Brian Marsden, director of the IAU’s Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
where comets and asteroids are recorded and named, says that he and others
would like to see an end to such double-barrelled names, unless they represent
two independent discoverers. ‘The situation has got out of hand,’ he says.

Marsden points out that Carolyn Shoemaker makes the discoveries, by
scanning photographs of the sky, so perhaps all the team’s comets should
be called ‘Shoemaker’. In fact, a comet discovered by the Shoemakers and
Levy in May was dubbed simply Periodic Comet Shoemaker 4, much to the trio’s
chagrin.

So where should the credit for a discovery lie? Once someone has spotted
a new comet, its existence must be verified and its orbit calculated, often
by other people. The trend in comet spotting is moving increasingly towards
large team efforts.

Carolyn Shoemaker says she would not be happy to get all the credit
for the team’s finds. ‘Everyone works equally hard, doing whatever they’re
best at,’ she says.

Marsden favours keeping people’s names on comets, because it encourages
amateurs. But some astronomers want to take a tougher line. ‘There are some
people saying that comets should not be named, or that we should give them
names but not the names of discoverers,’ Marsden says. This would be similar
to the system for asteroids, which are named by their discoverers, rather
than being named after them. But this can also lead to friction, as suggested
names have to be approved by the IAU. One team had their proposal turned
down when they tried to name an asteroid ‘Mr Spock’, after their pet cat.