O.K., I guess it's my turn then. I'll make it a quick one:

Can you tell me about an event of stars being named, and later "unnamed" again in modern times? Stars, names and stories please!

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

Ummm, oh, that was supposed to be quicker....

Maybe a hint: The grinning emoticon was particularly apt here.

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

Is it one of those Star Registry things?

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

Err, don't know - what is a "Star Registry"?
No commercial activity was involved.
the story takes place in the 20th century.

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

Still no takers...?

O.K. for heaven's sake: It was a joke at the time. A JOKE!

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

LGM-1 and LGM-2?

The first two pulsars.
They where initially suspected of being artificial radio-sources,
hence the names Little Green Man-1 & 2.

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An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.

Very nice solution, but not the one I was looking for.
We're talking naked-eye, conventional stars here

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

How about the 3 stars that Gus Grissom named after the Apollo 1 crew - Navi (ε Cassiopeiae), Dnoces (ι Ursae Majoris), and Regor (γ Velorum)? Navi is Ivan, Grissom's middle name, spelled backwards. Likewise Dnoces is Second spelled backwards (Edward White II) and Regor is Roger spelled backwards (Roger Chaffee).

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Considering Grissom died in the Apollo 1 fire, I am sure you meant someone else

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

I did not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_named_after_people

BTW, at least two DSC devices that I'm familiar with have Navi as an alignment star in their databases.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

I thought these three stars where named after the fire,
as a memorial.

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An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.

Dave Mitsky, you are the winner!

Looking forward to your next question...

Halcyon Dayz, the way I read it (in the German edition of Stky&Telescope), it was indeed a Joke by Grissom. He did it when the Apollo program was developed and guide stars for navigation were chosen. He managed to sneak the three names, which were chosen to "sound" ancient, into the maps. Since the maps were widely reprinted later, the joke snowballed. NASA only later discovered what had been done to them and changed the maps backwards.

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Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem.

It's been a long time since I've attempted a poem so please bear with me.

That which you seek possesses an odd trait
In dust it lies quite hidden
It excites certain molecules to strangely radiate
And sculpts gases so gourd-like unbidden.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Huh, I guess One can never really trust what's written in books I stand corrected on this one.

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The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

protostar?

Neither young nor spent is the object in question
If you think Messier, you'll be going in the right direction.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Apple is gourd-like in shape

M57 Dumbbell nebula?

M45 Pleiades

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I've met ngc3314


"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

M27 is the one that is both dumb and a bell
I'm sorry to say that answer doesn't ring true
The Seven Sisters are said in Taurus to dwell
The count is close but you'll need another clue.

The ultimate answer may be forty and two
But to get closer in this game you'll have to add more than a few
A rich cluster of stars shines in the cold winter night
Think the deck of a ship and and you may get it right.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

M46, has a nice little planetary in it, 40 + 3*2 (a few twos added to forty, puppis, of the old constellation Argo, the ship.

The number is right but the object is not
It's on its way to becoming
Today 'tis a body quite large but not very hot
The letter M should put you in the running.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Are you sure it's not ARO 46 (NGC 2438)? That's the planetary nebula evanconnor is referring to. It has the same number as M46,