News Releases

Dingolay, Ramajay? Public Voting Opens for T&T to name an Exoplanet and Star

For Release Upon Receipt - November 1, 2019

St. Augustine


Dr Shirin Haque, Senior Lecturer in Astronomy at the UWI St. Augustine Campus and National Outreach Coordinator, IAU

Dr Shirin Haque, Senior Lecturer in Astronomy at the UWI St. Augustine Campus and National Outreach Coordinator, IAU

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. November 1, 2019 – After a nationwide call for names – ten final entrants have been chosen for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) NameExoWorlds Trinidad and Tobago Competition. Dr Shirin Haque, Senior Lecturer in Astronomy at the UWI St. Augustine Campus and National Outreach Coordinator, IAU is encouraging the public to vote for which names they think Trinidad and Tobago’s official exoplanet and its host star should be called.

Public voting opened on October 30th 2019 ends on Sunday November 10, 2019.Persons can vote online by visiting https://www.nameexoworldstt.com/. The final decision will be announced by the IAU in December 2019.

"This is a first in the history of Astronomy for Trinidad and Tobago to have an opportunity to be immortalized among the stars,” said Dr Haque. “Together, we all can be part of that effort in choosing the names that become the official names internationally for the host star and its exoplanet. The power of science uniting us all to a wonderful common cause! The winning entry will be officially announced globally in December 2019 by the International Astronomical Union."

The IAU is the largest astronomical society of professional astronomers in the world. In 2019, it celebrates its 100th anniversary with several events during the year. Of special note is its initiative “Name Exoworlds”. In this programme, countries around the world get to name a host star and its exoplanet. The competition is to name a designated system of the host star and its exoplanet, jointly called “exoworld”. This name will become its official name apart from its scientific designation.

A proposal from Trinidad and Tobago was accepted for this “Name Exoworlds” initiative and a system of the host star and exoplanet was assigned to us for a national competition to name. It must represent the cultural or geographical heritage of the country. The grand prize is a telescope, with hampers for runners up and tokens for finalists. However, according to Dr. Haque, “The grandest prize for all of us of is the honour of a star and an exoplanet having a Trinbagonian name. What an opportunity to be immortalised among the stars! Move over Greeks, Romans and Arabs, here comes a Trinbago star and planet!”

For more information please visit https://sta.uwi.edu/mediacentre/

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Notes to Editor

· UWI Today Article by Dr. Shirin Haque: A Star and Exoplanet with a Trinbago Name? Yes Indeed! https://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/article8.asp

· The exoworld system assigned to Trinidad and Tobago is HD 96063 (host star) and HD 96063b (exoplanet). The system is 515 light years away. The star HD 96093 is a yellow, giant star located in the Leo constellation. While it cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is easily visible using small telescopes and binoculars. HD 96093 is as massive as our Sun; however, it is almost four times larger in size and has an effective temperature of 5308 K (Kelvin, the base unit of temperature in the International System of Units). Calculated to be twice as old as our sun at 9 Billion years, HD 96093 has at least one extrasolar planet in orbit around it – exoplanet HD 96093b.

· Video: NameExoWorlds Competition to immortalise Trinidad & Tobago among the stars! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cavn6Ot4Rqk

About The UWI

For more than 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students across five campuses: Cave Hill in Barbados; Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda; Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago; and an Open Campus. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018 and 2019. The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.

As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of “The”)

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