The planetary system μ Arae, has a new name: from now his star is called Cervantes and the four planets orbiting Quixote, Rocinante, Sancho and Dulcinea.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) official in charge of assigning names to celestial objects, just announced this decision after NameExoWorlds convene a public contest to rename the planetary systems found in recent years.
Cervantes was the name of the Spanish candidacy, a name promoted by the Spanish Society of Astronomy and the Planetarium of Pamplona for this international competition.
With over 38,000 votes, the Spanish proposal was the winner of the contest in which competed with four six options countries (Portugal, Italy, Colombia and Japan).
From today, the planetary system μ Arae, located 49.8 light-years away in the constellation Altar (Ara), can be called in two ways, by their scientific names or their new Names: Cervantes, Don Quixote, Rocinante, Sancho and Dulcinea.
The vote was open on the internet from 12 August to 31 October. Everyone could vote, with the only limitation of one vote per device.
The campaign to solicit votes, dubbed #YoEstrellaCervantes, was present throughout the voting process in social networks and through its own website.
The Union NameExoWorlds contest Astronomical International (IAU) allowed for the first time in history the public could participate in choosing new names for stars and exoplanets.
And it was a success: you could choose between 274 names proposed by astronomical organizations from 45 countries, and more than half a million votes were received from 182 countries.
Spain was the third country in percentage of participation, behind only India and the United States.
Among the other new names adopted include those from mythological figures from different cultures, as well as scientific or fictional characters, ancient cities or words of disappeared languages.
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