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Perhaps it was inevitable. Features on the surface of Eros, the near-Earth asteroid now being observed by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, have officially been given the names of famous lovers in myth and literature, such as Orpheus and Eurydice, Don Juan, Cupid and Lolita.

Assigning such names is the job of the working group for planetary-system nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which convened this month in Manchester, England, at a meeting of the IAU general assembly. The names Bill and Monica are said to have been summarily rejected.

This year the working group has selected more than 200 names for the satellites of Uranus and for craters and other features seen on the Moon, planets and asteroids.

The system is intended to make life easier for researchers, rather than commemorate people, explains Brian Marsden, a member of the working group who is based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Commemorated: Shoemaker (left) and Sagan. Credit: ROGER RESSMEYER/CORBIS

Yet commemoration plays an important role. A crater on the moon was named after the planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, for example, and one on Mars was named after the astronomer Carl Sagan — both of whom became eligible, according to IAU rules, three years after their deaths.

But the desire to honour Shoemaker and Sagan could create problems, says Marsden. “There is a tradition that you don't use the same name for different astronomical bodies, but these names have been mentioned for other objects as well.”

Another point of contention was raised by some of the younger astronomers, who complained that most members of the working group have held their posts since the 1970s. “There's a feeling that people should not do more than three [three-year] terms, so that others won't feel left out,” says Marsden, who is starting his third term and is prepared to retire after the next IAU general assembly meeting in 2003.

One change introduced this year establishes an appeal process, allowing any IAU member to object to a new name within three years of its announcement. No such challenges have yet been raised, but a Japanese amateur astronomer did ask the working group to reconsider the name for an asteroid he discovered. His suggestion had been rejected because it was the name of the company he worked for, but the committee reversed its decision, and the name, Denso, was approved.

Most names are drawn from history and literature, rather than the corporate world. Names for the moons of Uranus — Caliban, Sycorax, Setebos, Stephano and Prospero — were taken from Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The last three names replace the temporary designations S/1999U1, U2 and U3. “I'm perfectly happy to use numbers, which I find easier to remember,” Marsden says. “But the public likes to have names.”