Naming Deep Sky Objects

[cosmiquery]

Does anybody know who is in charge of naming deep sky objects, or who to contact about suggestions? There are so many beautiful objects deserving of a better title than NGC####. Catalog ID's are also so hard to remember, but who could forget the Cat's Eye Nebula or the Ring Nebula? Here are some of my own personal nicknames. Got any of your own?

Monarch Nebula (like the butterfly, since the "wings" are orange)

Bullet Nebula

Plasma Globe Nebula

Aegis Nebula (looks like a magic shield to me)

Sprinkler Galaxy

[melsky]

I've always wondered what the Pacman Nebula was called before Pacman was invented?

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Like the sprinkler galaxy suggestion.

[Ryan1885]

Excellent question!! I haven't got a clue! lol

[rory]

I've always wondered what the Pacman Nebula was called before Pacman was invented?

Or was pack man named after the nebula. ? Let's face it the nebula was around first ! Ha got ya thinking. .

[Astro Imp]

I suspect the names are not official but just get adopted by common usage, rather like a person's nick name.

[callump]

The catalogue designations are the only officially recognised names. But then again some objects appear in multiple catalogues, so even then there is often multiple designations for a single object.

The common names are just that. Just come about by usage - a lot have come about from the early observers (Lord Rosse coined the Crab Nebula for M1 and later regretted it...), or were described in a book or magazine article, and people latched onto the name.

If you want to come up with new names for un-named things, then fine, but I kinda dislike giving new names to things that have long standing names (like the doughnut for the ring nebula...).

It's interesting looking for names that are used for many objects. NGC 7331 and it's group of companions became known as the Deer Lick galaxy group, from an observing group at a place in america called Deer Lick. It was one of the first things they observed, so somehow the name of the group stuck. I looked the place up on google streeview, and found a big american biker and harley parked in the layby...

Callum

[LukeSkywatcher]

DSO's are like clouds. We all see something different apart from when its blatantly obvious why its named what its named. As said above, i dont think any names apart from the official catalog names are official. They just become nick-names down the years.

The "seven sisters" (M45) to me looks like a shopping trolley. The list of what they look like to me is endless. Some are VERY aptly named though:Cats Eye,Thor's Helmet,The Eagle,Owl,Eskimo (very politically incorrect these days),Wizard,North American,Rosette.

The E.T. asterism makes sense if you overlay an image of E.T. on it. 

Much as i love M44 (the Beehive),i just dont see it as a hive.