Proper names (astronomy)

Some astronomical objects have proper names (common names, popular names, traditional names); as opposed to catalogue numbers or other systematic designations. This trivially includes the naked-eye planets as well as the Sun and Moon. A small number of stars have proper names in pre-modern astronomical tradition, but most naked-eye stars are identified by their Bayer or Flamsteed designations.

In modern astronomy, there has been a tradition of giving proper names to newly discovered heavenly bodies, initiated with the discovery of the planets beyond Saturn, and later extended to minor planets and moons.

The naming of astronomical objects and surface features in those objects is handled by two bodies of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The names of major planets, satellites, and surface features in those bodies, are assigned by the Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature. Names of comets and minor planets are handled by the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature. These bodies are also responsible for the dissemination of the names. The IAU's website has lists of all these names.

In modern astronomy, the designation of stars is done by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). For the brightest stars, nomenclature is based on the Bayer designation, first published for a total of 1,564 naked-eye stars in 1603. Only a minority of these have proper names. Many of the proper names that remain in use in modern astronomy are based on Arabic star names from medieval Islamic astronomy, which in turn was substantially based on Claudius Ptolemy’s Almagest, which contained the original Greek and Latin names for stars.

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