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Cronk y Berry Primary School have entered a national competition to name an exoplanet and its parent star.

 

The Manx Gaelic names were submitted by Class 4/5G - 'Cruinlagh', which means 'orbit' and 'Gloas', meaning 'shine'.

 

Over 10,000 young people across the UK suggested over 1,000 individual names for consideration, reduced to a top 10 by a team of astronomy experts, with the public now offered the chance to crown a winner.

 

92 other countries are also deciding on the names for their own assigned planetary systems, each consisting of an exoplanet – a planet that exists outside of our own solar system – and its host star.

 

The UK’s assigned exoplanet, currently named WASP-13b, is about a third of the mass of Jupiter, whilst its host star, currently named WASP-13, is thought to be larger, hotter, and older than our Sun. 

 

Voting opens on November 19th and closes on December 2nd, with the winner announced mid-December.

 

The UK competition is a partnership between the IAU, UCLan, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Royal Astronomical Society, UK European Space Education Research Office, Girlguiding, the University of Warwick, the National Schools Observatory, the Association of Science and Discovery Centres, the British Association of Planetaria and UKFAST.

 

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