Hi Rob & All,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob_K
Sorry pgc, won't have it on unless you can identify the species. 
Looks like one L S Copeland is to blame - a quick Google and it seems that he gave a name to just about everything that passed through his field of view. No doubt Les would have his picture up on his dartboard! 
Cheers - |
Well, yes and no Rob, I find Leland Copeland a little easier to forgive as he was the first contributing editor to S&T to write a deep sky column and perhaps the very first ever populariser of Deep Sky observing. He wrote Deep Sky Wonders even before Walter Scott Houston immortalised the column. He coined quite a few names for deep sky objects but I don't think any of it was done out of a desire to immortalise himself.
My biggest beef with so-called "common-names" is just that -- people trying to gain some sort of immortality for themselves as the inventor or this that or the other clever name -- particularly on what are often pretty non-descript objects (I guess all nearly all the really good ones are already named).
That and citing a "common-name" without an official designation. I use common names all the time -- but to avoid any possibility of confusion or ambiguity, I always add a designation from the most common catalogue it's found in. For example there are no less than four "Whirlpool Galaxies" and three "Pinwheel Galaxies".
Culture specific common names also grate a bit too ...
Best,
Les D