Naming the extrasolar planets

TL;DR

The paper proposes a systematic naming scheme for the 403 known extrasolar planets, linking names to their constellations and mythologies, challenging the view that planets should remain unnamed due to their abundance.

Contribution

It introduces a practical and mythologically inspired naming scheme for extrasolar planets, addressing the impracticality of current scientific designations.

Findings

Names are assigned based on constellation association.

Most names are derived from Roman-Greek mythology.

The scheme can incorporate other mythologies.

Abstract

Extrasolar planets are not named and are referred to only by their assigned scientific designation. The reason given by the IAU to not name the planets is that it is considered impractical as planets are expected to be common. I advance some reasons as to why this logic is flawed, and suggest names for the 403 extrasolar planet candidates known as of Oct 2009. The names follow a scheme of association with the constellation that the host star pertains to, and therefore are mostly drawn from Roman-Greek mythology. Other mythologies may also be used given that a suitable association is established.