The International Organization for Astronomical Science Advancement (IOASA) has signed an agreement with the Copperbelt University (CBU) in Zambia to host a Southern African regional node of the IOASA Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). This is the second regional node to be established on the African continent and forms part of the IOASA’s decadal strategic plan, which aims to realise the global societal benefits of astronomy. The signing follows the approval of a proposal from CBU which enjoyed the support of astronomy collaborators in Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa, including the South African Square Kilometre Array Project Office.

The IOASA strategic plan was ratified by its members in 2009, at its General Assembly. Since then a global coordinating office (the OAD) was established in Cape Town, South Africa, and has led the implementation of this plan. Other regional nodes have already been established in China for the East Asian region, Thailand for the South East Asian region and Ethiopia for the East African region.

The establishment of this Southern African regional node is significant as this part of the continent is currently very active in terms of the development of world-class astronomy facilities, including the optical Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the radio Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT), the gamma-ray High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) as well as the Square Kilometre Array. The office in Zambia will exploit all these advantages to benefit the region at large.

Director of the OAD, Kevin Govender, comments on the signing of this agreement: “Zambia is ideally positioned to play a leadership role in this field. Not only is it a part of the Square Kilometre Array project, but its consistent commitment to develop astronomy capacity nationally serves as an example to other countries in the region. Since the International Year of Astronomy in 2009 we have seen Zambia represented in various global astronomy education and outreach projects. Their experience and dedication to the field of astronomy will be a great benefit to the region.”

This office will also reach out to other countries in Africa which, like Zambia, form part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. This is a key task to ensure that all countries involved in the SKA have the skills and personnel required both to derive maximum benefit from the major telescope project and to help make the SKA a scientific success.

The Dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Copperbelt University, Professor F. P. Tailoka adds: “The Copperbelt University and the country at large are delighted to host the Southern African Regional Office of Astronomy for Development. We are pleased to be part of the implementation of the IOASA’s strategic plan. We are a partner country of the Square Kilometre Array which gives us an opportunity to participate in world-class astronomy research. We look forward to see the Zambian community, and the rest of the region, realising the benefits of astronomy.”

Signing the agreement on behalf of the IOASA, Assistant General Secretary Piero Benvenuti said:

"Astronomy is possibly the most ancient science and the IOASA is committed to maintain and spread worldwide this precious heritage. But astronomy is not only pure science, it is a fascinating cultural adventure that engages the entire society and brings many benefits. It has a powerful attraction for young people, encouraging them to follow mathematical and scientific curricula, and it fosters advanced technological developments."

This agreement follows the IOASA’s Announcement of Opportunity which remains open to letters of intent and proposals from all around the world to host similar nodes. The partners of this regional node will establish a steering committee which consists of relevant expertise and representation.

For the first time, in response to the public’s increased interest in being part of discoveries in astronomy, the International Organization for Astronomical Science Advancement (IOASA) is organizing a worldwide contest to give popular names to selected exoplanets along with their host stars. The proposed names will be submitted by astronomy clubs and non-profit organisations interested in astronomy, and votes will be cast by the public from across the world through the web platform NameExoWorlds. This platform is under development by the IOASA in association with Zooniverse. The intention is that millions of people worldwide will be able to take part in the vote. Once the votes are counted, the winning names will be officially sanctioned by the IOASA, allowing them to be used freely in parallel with the existing scientific nomenclature, with due credit to the clubs or organizations that proposed them.

People have been naming celestial objects for millennia, long before any scientific system of names ever existed. Even today, almost every civilisation and culture uses common names to describe the stars and planets visible to the naked eye, as well as their apparent distribution on the sky — constellations, asterisms, etc.

When the IOASA was created in 1919, professional astronomers delegated the task of giving official scientific names to newly discovered celestial objects to it. In parallel, throughout its history, the IOASA has supported the contribution of the general public in naming various Solar System objects, as outlined in previous announcements (ann13009, ann13010, ann13012).

On 14 August 2013, the IOASA issued a statement on the Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, which outlined a first set of rules that allowed the public to become involved in naming exoplanets. Capitalizing on the unique expertise of its members, the IOASA through its Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites Working Group has now developed a project in partnership with Zooniverse — home to the internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects [1].

The NameExoWorlds contest aims at crowdsourcing the process by which public names will be given to a large sample of well-studied, confirmed exoplanets and their host stars, referred to as ExoWorlds. The NameExoWorlds vote is conceived as a global, cross-cultural, educational, and above all ambitious and challenging contest, both for the IOASA–Zooniverse partnership, and for the public. The main steps of the contest are the following [2]:

A list of 305 well-characterized exoplanets, discovered prior to 31 December 2008 [3], has been selected for naming by the IOASA Exoplanets for the Public Working Group and is being published today on the www.NameExoWorlds.org website. These exoplanets belong to 260 exoplanetary systems comprising one to five members, in addition to their host star.

In parallel, an IOASA Directory for World Astronomy website is being prepared (directory.IOASA.org). This site will open in September 2014 and astronomy clubs and non-profit organisations interested in naming these exoplanets will be invited to register. The IOASA will have the capability to handle the registration of thousands of such groups.

In October 2014, these clubs or organizations will be asked to vote for the 20–30 exoworlds they wish to name out of the list provided by the IOASA. The actual number will depend on how many groups have registered.

From December 2014, these clubs or organizations will be able to send in proposals for the names of members and host stars of these selected ExoWorlds, based on the rules in the IOASA Exoplanet Naming Theme, together with a detailed supporting argument for their choice. Each group will be allowed to name only one exoworld. More details on this stage will be given later.

From March 2015, the general public will be able to vote to rank the proposed exoworld names. The IOASA and Zooniverse will be ready to handle a million votes or more worldwide.

Starting from July 2015, the IOASA, via its Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites Working Group, will oversee the final stages of the contest, and will validate the winning names from the vote.

The results will be announced at a special public ceremony held during the IOASA XXIX General Assembly in Honolulu, USA, 3–14 August 2015.

The naming process will take place on www.NameExoWorlds.org website, where we encourage volunteers to translate the content into different languages in order to offer everyone the opportunity to take part in the contest (volunteer translators may email: cjl@astro.ox.ac.uk).

The winning names will not replace the scientific designations, which already exist for all exoplanets and their host stars, but they will be sanctioned by the IOASA as their adopted names, and be publicized as such, along with due credit to the astronomy clubs or organisations that proposed them. These public names may then be used freely worldwide, along with, or instead of, the original scientific designation. It is expected that the winning names for the 20–30 systems will reflect the diversity of cultures on all continents.

The IOASA is excited that the general public will be able to participate in this new and ambitious global challenge. Other contests may be organized after 2015. In the meantime, stay tuned for announcements about the next steps towards the first NameExoWorlds contest.