2019-09-07, 09:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 2019-09-07, 09:57 PM by theskyhound.)
Hello Leif,
Common names have no central arbiter, so sometimes a name will catch on that has is already in use, but those using the name don't realize it. This has been a problem over the years with Hubble press releases, where the writers would invent a name to match the Hubble image, not knowing that that name was already commonly used for another object. Sometimes this got so much attention that the new name became more prominent than the old one. So this isn't as straight forward as it would at first seem.
In this case, I don't know what's going on. NGC 6818 has a long history of being called the Little Gem that goes back decades. NGC 6309 has also been known as The Box for a very long time. Yet, somehow, in recent years both these names have been applied to NGC 6445! Go figure. I'm going to stick to tradition on this one.
Common names have no central arbiter, so sometimes a name will catch on that has is already in use, but those using the name don't realize it. This has been a problem over the years with Hubble press releases, where the writers would invent a name to match the Hubble image, not knowing that that name was already commonly used for another object. Sometimes this got so much attention that the new name became more prominent than the old one. So this isn't as straight forward as it would at first seem.
In this case, I don't know what's going on. NGC 6818 has a long history of being called the Little Gem that goes back decades. NGC 6309 has also been known as The Box for a very long time. Yet, somehow, in recent years both these names have been applied to NGC 6445! Go figure. I'm going to stick to tradition on this one.
Clear skies,
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound
Greg
Head Dude at Skyhound