IAU Transactions XXIIA

TRANSACTIONS OF THE IAU : VOLUME XXIIA
(the following is excerpted from the book published by Kluwer Academic in 1994)

REPORTS ON ASTRONOMY (1993)

Edited by
JACQUELINE BERGERON
General Secretary of the Union

(from p. 595:)

WORKING GROUP FOR PLANETARY SYSTEM NOMENCLATURE (WGPSN)

(GROUP DE TRAVAIL POUR LA NOMENCLATURE DU SYSTEM PLANETAIRE) (Committee of the Executive Committee)
 
  PRESIDENT: K. Aksnes
  MEMBERS: R. Batson, A. Brahic, M. Fulchignoni, M.Ya. Marov, D. Morrison, T.C. Owen, V.V. Shevchenko, B.A. Smith L.A. Soderblom
  CONSULTANTS: J.M. Boyce, G. Burba, P. Masson
 
  Since the IAU General Assembly in Buenos Aires in 1991, WGPSN has held its 21st and 22nd regular meetings in Bergen, Norway June 18-19 1992 and at Belgirate, Italy June 19 1993. The Bergen meeting was attended by 8 members from the Working Group (WG) and 6 from The Task Groups(TG). At Belgirate, 6 WG and 4 TG members were present. In addition, an ad hoc nomenclature meeting was conducted in Liege, Belgium on 25 June 1992 to take advantage of the presence of 7 WG and TG members assembled there for another meeting. Much of the nomenclature discussions are now carried out by electronic mail which has taken over for correspondance by regular mail almost entirely. Telefax is used to reach the few members not reachable by e-mail.
 
  During the triennium, most of the nomenclature work has concerned Venus on which planet thousands of new features have been discovered with the radar on the highly successful Magellan spacecraft.
 
  For the first time in history the surface of an asteroid, 951 Gaspra, has been imaged, during a close passage by the Galileo spacecraft in October 1991.
 
 

RESOLUTIONS

1. The WGPSN

• R e c o g n i z e s increasing requirements for names of small bodies in the solar system (including minor planets, comets, and planetary satellites)

• N o t e s the many common issues and procedures for establishing such nomenclature that have led to consultation and cooperation between the WGPSN and the Minor Planet Names Committee (MPNC) of IAU Commission 20

• S u p p o r t s the initiative of Commision 20 in seeking closer cooperation between the WGPSN and the nomenclature activities of Commission 20, and therefore

• R e c o m m e n d s to the Executive Committee of the IAU that:

• - A special joint committee or working group be established with representatives of Commissions 15, 16, and 20, and WGPSN

• - This working group be charged to formulate a proposal for a unified procedure for establishing nomenclature for the planetary system including naming of minor bodies as well as nomenclature for surface features on solar system objects

• - The working group present its proposal to the XXII IAU General Assembly

(from p. 596:)

2. The WGPSN

• R e c o g n i z e s increasing requirements for names on planetary bodies and page limitations on planetary nomenclature in the IAU Transactions volumes

• N o t e s that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the U.S. Geological Survey may be willing to undertake regular publication of a Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature under the auspices of the WGPSN

• R e c o m m e n d s to the Executive Committee of the IAU that this Gazetteer be recognized by the IAU as an official documentation of planetary nomenclature approved by the IAU, in place of or in addition to that published in the IAU Transactions.

NEW GUIDELINES FOR NOMENCLATURE

1. It is the sense of the WGPSN that namebanks should be established for transjovian planetary/asteroidal/"cometary" bodies. Names for these objects should be selected along lines that include the following:

• (a) objects in 1:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter: heroes of the Trojan War.

• (b) objects crossing (or approaching) the orbits of at least one of the giant planets and not in a stabilizing resonance: centaurs.

• (c) objects crossing (or approaching) the orbit of Neptune and in a stabilizing resonance (other than 1:1) with it: mythological names associated with the underworld.

• (d) objects with orbits sufficiently outside the orbit of Neptune that stability is presumed for a substantial fraction of the lifetime of the solar system: mythological names associated with creation.

2. Whereas the spacecraft engaged in planetary exploration have revealed worlds beyond our imagination, be it resolved that the WGPSN shall permit the names of these spacecraft to he commemorated in the planetary systems they have visited.


3. For the small bodies in the solar system, craters may be given names associated with the name and origin of the body itself, while distinct regions (Regio) may be named for the discoverer or associated people. Other features may receive names associated with the place of discovery.

NEW NOMENCLATURE

The WG is seeking IAU approval for the following 332 new names on Venus, 1 on Mars, 1 on Ganymede, 1 on Proteus, and 1 on the Moon.

…

(from p. 603:)

NAME LAT LON DIAM (KM) ATTRIBUTE
CRATER
Glushko 8.4 77.6W 43 V.P.; Russian space scientist 1908-1989