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Hi Mike,
I think that giving objects in the southern sky common or familiar or poetic names helps to familiarize it. I seem to recall that Peter Marples was collecting some of these "We call NGC ____ the swiss cheese in the sky" types of names.
It would be so much easier if some of the dreaded two part ESO galaxy identifications e.g. ESO123-025 , and those very long PGC galaxy identifications, had more easily remembered names!!
The northern sky has had many more years of myth and lore and emotional familiarity with the human race, than has the southern sky....and this is probably why there are so many "homely and familiar" names that have eventually stuck to become the real names of objects.
Unfortunately, I personally never see dragons or birds or heros or any other creatures in the sky......I just haven't got that kind of imagination, and I only see geometric shapes!!!
Robert
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