We have finally succeeded. The proposal of the Spanish Astronomy Society and the Pamplona Planetarium has managed to rise as a favorite in the international NameExoWorlds competition. Thus, from now on, the distant star μ Arae located 49.8 light years away -in the constellation Ara- will be Cervantes and the four planets that surround it will be Quijote, Rocinante, Sancho and Dulcinea.
The International Astronomical Union organized this competition to rename up to 19 ex-worlds (with stars and planets) that had been discovered in recent years. In the case of the μ Arae planetary system proposal, Spain was competing with six other candidates but the imposing figure of almost 70% of the registered votes has tipped the balance towards “Estrella Cervantes”.
More than 38,500 votes have been received from around the world for this planetary system to embody the banner of the greatest figure in Spanish literature, Miguel de Cervantes and his universally known “Don Quixote de la Mancha.” “Cervantes and his characters already have their rightful place among the stars,” says Javier Gorgas, president of the Spanish Astronomy Society.
The campaign was baptized as #YoEstrellaCervantes and was widely extended and supported by the Instituto Cervantes, both on social networks and through the web estrellacervantes.es.
But it has not been the only winning Spanish proposal. Another planet, iota Draconis -which revolves around the star Edasich-, will be called Hypatia , thanks to the cultural association of the Faculty of Physics of the Complutense University of Madrid.
This year has been the first in which the possibility of participating in the choice of names for stars and exoplanets has been open to the public , since it is normally the International Astronomical Union (chaired by the first Mexican to obtain a doctorate in astronomy, Silvia Torres), which designates the official names for the heavenly bodies.
2016, which is celebrated as the Cervantes Year , in commemoration of the fourth centenary of the death of the writer, will thus begin with a view of the night sky.
