![]() ![]() In fact, from 1968 until 1993, these three stars could be found on the monthly star charts published in the centerfold of Sky & Telescope magazine. They even turned up on some official star maps that were published during the late 1960s and 1970s. In later missions, these three maverick stars amazingly were accorded the same respect as celebrated ones like Sirius, Vega and Aldebaran. Navi was Grissom's middle name (Ivan) spelled backward, and Regor was Chaffee's first name in reverse. "Dnoces" (which was really the star Iota Ursae Majoris or Talitha), "Navi" (the star Epsilon Cassiopeiae or Segin) and Regor ( the star Gamma Velorum or Suhail).Īs it turns out, Dnoces is the word "second" spelled backwards, a reference to the ordinal number often appended to Astronaut Edward White, II (who coincidentally, was also the second man to walk in space). The list was subsequently published in the Griffith Observer which was - and still is - considered to be a reputable astronomical publication. Grissom passed along the list (including the three bogus star names) to Cleminshaw. Cleminshaw (1902-1985), who at that time served as the director of Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory, approached Grissom and told him he planned to write a short article on the Apollo navigational stars for the observatory's magazine, Griffith Observer, and asked for a listing of the 37 star names. In 1966, astronauts Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Edward White were named to be the crew on the very first manned Apollo flight (Apollo 1). But because the gyroscopes tended to drift, astronauts had to periodically recalibrate the system by sighting on known stars. The Apollo spacecraft that took men to the moon were designed to operate under inertial guidance, with gyroscopes keeping them pointed in the right direction. Then there are the three stars with names which, transposed, once referred to three American astronauts. One thing that we do know: Cacciatore didn't pay a cent to have his monikers immortalized in the nighttime sky! A joke that proliferated But to this day nobody knows for sure whether it was Piazzi or Cacciatore himself who ultimately christened these two stars. ![]() In 1859, the English astronomer Thomas Webb (1807-1885) solved the mystery by reversing their letters, revealing the name of Nicolaus Venator, the Latinized form of Niccolo Cacciatore. These names first appeared in the Palermo Star Catalog, published in 1814 by Giuseppe Piazzi, the director of the Palermo Observatory, and his assistant Niccolo Cacciatore.Įventually, those names found their way into numerous other star charts and atlases, but nobody seemed to have a clue as to their origin. Two stars in the Delphinus diamond have rather enigmatic names: Sualocin (Alpha Delphini) and Rotanev (Beta Delphini). Some reference books refer to the diamond as "Job's Coffin" though the origin of this name is unknown. The constellation looks like a small diamond with perhaps one or two stars below it. It certainly attracted the attention of ancient watchers of the sky, for despite its tiny size and the fact that it only consists of faint stars they're very closely spaced and easily seen on dark, clear nights. Hidden monikers in reverseįirst let's deal with those Sicilian astronomers:Īs we get ready to transition from winter to spring, one of the smallest constellations is visible at the first light of dawn, about halfway up in the eastern sky: Delphinus, the Dolphin. there are ways to get around this, as a couple of 19th century Sicilian astronomers, and a well-known 20th century astronaut quietly demonstrated. Similar rules on "buying" names apply to star clusters and galaxies as well."īut then again. "However, such 'names' have no formal or official validity whatsoever. "Some commercial enterprises purport to offer such services for a fee," the IAU explains on its website. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has their own take on this subject for those who desire to buy a star. My answer to all three such inquiries was a most definite NO! Others wanted to know if they could buy a star directly through us, or might we suggest a company where they could make such a purchase? Many would inquire if we could use our Zeiss planetarium projector to show them "their star." But whenever we got close to a holiday, the questions regarding the purchase of a star always precipitously increased. ![]() For many years, I served as the question-and-answer man at New York's Hayden Planetarium and over a roughly 20-year time span I probably answered literally thousands of questions about astronomy and its affiliated sciences. ![]()
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