• Question: Have you any stars our planets, solar systems named after you?

    Asked by paddyhayden to Arlene, Colin, David, Eugene, Paul on 20 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: David McKeown

      David McKeown answered on 20 Nov 2012:

      Yes, the moon is “officially” called David McKeown, but people usually just call it the moon because it is shorter. It is kinda cool, but it does get annoying at parties when I think I hear someone say my name and I turn around to see who it is but they are just talking about the moon.

    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      Not yet! For most things they changed the rules about naming stuff after yourself- stars just get a boring catalog name, planets get the name of the star with a letter attached.. even elements just get named after the place they were discovered in. It takes the fun out of discovering something if you don’t get to name it yourself!! They were probably afraid of cheeky scientists coming up with ridiculous names.. I for one know I couldn’t resist it…

      Did anyone notice there is a full david mckeown out tonight?

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