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The International Astronomical Union has released new names for 32 exoplanets and 14 stars. Because of their outsider status,exoplanets normally get stuck with boring names like "42 Draconis b" or "PSR 1257+12 c." But now you can refer to those twoas "Orbitar" and "Poltergeist," respectively. The names were proposed by various astronomy groups, or voters from 182 different countries weighed in,all of them vying to make their impress in the astronomical history books.
Here to weigh in on the name changes is Sara Seager, an exoplanet astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She's elated (full of high-spirited delight) the public got to participate in the naming of distant worlds. Below you'll find some of the names and the countries that nominated them. Want to learn more approximately exoplanets? Check out our NASA-backed series "bold New Worlds: Looking for Life in The Goldilocks Zone."USAFafnir
Orbitar
Ran
AEgir
Dagon
ItalyLich
Draugr
Poltergeist
Phobetor
The NetherlandsCopernicus
Galileo
Brahe
Lipperhey
Janssen
Harriot
JapanMusica
Arion
Amateru
Libertas
Fortitudo
SpainCervantes
Quijote
Dulcinea
Rocinante
Sancho
Morocco
Titawin
Saffar
Samh
Majriti
Thailand
Chalawan
Taphao Thong
Taphao Kaew
Mexico Tonatiuh
Meztli
FranceOgma
Smertrios
SyriaTadm
Source: wnyc.org