Our nearest exoplanet now goes by the moniker ‘Albertus Alauda’

Uwingu's contest to provide a public name for our nearest exoplanet neighbor now has a winner!

Alpha Centauri Bb, discovered orbiting one of the stars in the star system next door to us, will now be known (at least publicly) as 'Albertus Alauda'.

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The winning name was nominated by Jay Lark, who wrote that the name is the Latin version of his grandfather's name, Albert Lark. It received around 750 votes.

"My Grandfather passed away after a lengthy and valliant (sic) battle with cancer, his name in latin means Noble or Bright and to praise or extoll (sic)," he wrote on the Uwingu site. "I think this is an apt description as my Grandfather was a noble man and bright of character."

Jay wins a call from Uwingu CEO Alan Stern and planet hunter Geoff Marcy, a year's subscription to Astronomy magazine, his picture on the Uwingu website, and a plaque commemorating his win.

The next two runner-ups were Rakhat and Caleo, with over 600 votes each, but they'll still get their chance, since the entire list of Uwingu names is meant to be used as a database of popular names that scientists can use for naming exoplanets.

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The contest caused a bit of a stir about two weeks ago, when the International Astronomical Union stepped in to emphasize the 'unofficial' nature of the contest, and the internet replied en masse to say that, in fact, no official method of naming exoplanets exist, noone is specifically authorized to name exoplanets, and there's no reason why anyone needs to use the names the Uwingu contest picks. Given that Uwingu's cause is to raise money for science research, I'd say that even if the names are never used in any official capacity, it's still worth it to contribute to their list.

(Image courtesy: ESO)

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