India in the Solar System!

India is now one of the handful of nations with the capability to launch a geo-stationary satellite from its own soil. Even though we appear not to have perfected the art, as seen from the sad demonstrations of the last two GSLV launches, nobody questions the nation’s prowess in space exploration. Ours is a developing nation, with scant resources for allocation in scientific or space research. After freely giving away money for corruptions, scams, klickbacks and such, what is remaining for space? Those criticising or ridiculing us should note this point. Whatever meagre allocation there is for space, ISRO utilizes for projects which ensure a handsome payback, naturally! They employ communication satellites (transponders for lease), remote sensing satellites (data for profit), satellite launching services (lowest fee per kg in the world) and it was only two years back they launched Chandrayaan 1, a true science project with no apparent commercial interests to fly by the moon, eject a probe on to the surface and collect data. This was a huge success and the world is indebted to it for the valuable confirmation it provided to the idea that moon contains water.

Apart from Chandrayaan 1, which may be accounted for the country’s rising prosperity, there are practically very few space science and exploration projects in the country. We have no good telescopes to watch the sky, only vague plans for an exploration probe to Mars or Moon and it is no wonder we are far far behind NASA and ESA. These agencies continuously watch the skies, stars, sun, moon and other planets. They locate structures on them like impact craters, mountains, plains, coronae and name them. The International Astronomical Union is entrusted with the task of naming them, and since most of them are identified with American or European funding, it is no wonder the names are those of Greek classical, mythological or people in those countries. Out of compassion or magnanimity, sometimes a few names are thrown to us like crumbs and are given Indian names. Recently, I made search to find Indian names for such structures in various planets or moons in the solar system and the following table lists the results I have obtained. With a very fine sieve, I went through the lists and ended up with 94 objects out of tens of thousands of items in the collection! Rather than being proud of these 94, every Indian should be aware of hundreds of deserving entries which are still awaiting attention of the international community.

Name	Type	Location	Named after
244 Sita	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Sita, character in Ramayana
770 Bali	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Bali, King of Kishkindha in Ramayana
1166 Sakuntala	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Shakuntala, character in ancient Sanskrit drama
1170 Siva	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Hindu deity Shiva or Siva
1958 Chandra	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995), Astrophysicist
2211 Hanuman	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Hanuman, monkey-god in mythology
2307 Garuda	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Garuda, son of Kasyapa and Vinata in mythology
2313 Aruna	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Represents the red glow of dawn in mythology of India
2347 Vinata	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Mythological daughter of Prajapati and wife of Kasyapa
2415 Ganesa	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Hindu deity
2491 Tvashtri	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Maker of divine implements in vedas
2596 Vainubappu	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu (1927-1982), Astrophysicist
2629 Rudra	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Rudra, destroyer aspect of the Siva
2847 Parvati	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Parvati, goddess, consort of Siva
2986 Mrinalini	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Mrinalini Sarabhai (1918-), Classical dancer and choreographer
2987 Sarabhai	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (1919-1971), Space scientist
3811 Karma	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Karma, Hindu philosophy
4130 Ramanujan	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920), Mathematician
5178 Pattazhy	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Sainudeen Pattazhy, Environmentalist
7855 Tagore	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Writer
8348 Bhattacharya	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Jagadish Chandra Bhattacharyya (1930-), Astronomer, director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore
8356 Wadhwa	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Meenakshi Wadhwa, meteorite analyst
9141 Kapur	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Shekhar Kapur (1945-), Actor
12072 Anupamakotha	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Anupama Kotha, Indian-born American finalist, 2002 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and 2002-2003 Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS)
12472 Samadhi	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Samadhi Hindu/Buddhist concept
12599 Singhal	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Akshat Singhal, Indian finalist, 2002 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
13117 Pondicherry	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Indian territory of Pondicherry
20000 Varuna		Kuiper Belt Object	Hindu deity of waters of the heaven and of the ocean and as the guardian of immortality
21575 Padmanabhan	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Hamsa Padmanabhan, Indian finalist in the 2006 Intel ISEF
23133 Rishinbehl	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Rishin Behl, Indian finalist in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
24944 Harish-Chandra	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Harish-Chandra (1923-1983), Mathematician
26214 Kalinga	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	UNESCO's Kalinga Prize (bearing the old name of the Indian state of Orissa)
51826 Kalpanachawla	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Kalpana Chawla (1961-2003), Astronaut, mission specialist on board the space shuttle Columbia (STS-107)
55753 Raman	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), Physicist
78118 Bharat	Asteroid	Asteroid Belt	Bhārat Ganarājya, native name of the Republic of India (derived from the wise and pious king Bharata of ancient Hindu mythology), the discoverer's motherland
Anala	Mountain	Venus	Anala (Hindu), Hindu fertility goddess. Name changed from Anala Corona.
Andal	Crater	Mercury	Aandaal (8th cen), Tamil writer
Annapurna	Corona	Venus	Indian goddess of wealth
Aryabhata	Crater	Moon	Aryabhata (476-circa 550)
Asvaghosa	Crater	Mercury	Asvaghosa (80-150), Sanskrit poet
Avviyar	Crater	Venus	Avviyar (2nd cen), Tamil poet
Bhor	Crater	Mars	Bhor, a municipal town in Pune district of Maharshtra, erstwhile principality
Bhumidevi	Corona	Venus	Hindu earth goddess
Bhumiya	Corona	Venus	Hindu earth goddess
Bose	Crater	Moon	Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937), Physicist and Biologist
Broach	Crater	Mars	Broach, city in Gujarat
Budh	Plains	Mercury	Hindu word for Mercury
Chawla	Crater	Moon	Kalpana Chawla (1961–2003), Astronaut
Das	Crater	Moon	Amil Kumar Das (1902–1961), Astronomer
Dheepa	Crater	Venus	Indian female name
Dhisana	Corona	Venus	Vedic goddess of plenty
Dilip	Mountain	Moon	Indian male name
Ganesa	Macula	Titan	Hindu deity
Ganges	Catena	Mars	Ganga, Indian sacred river
Gauri	Mountain	Venus	Gauri (Hindu), Indian mountain goddess
Indira	Crater	Venus	Indian first name
Indrani	Corona	Venus	Hindu fertility goddess
Jhirad	Crater	Venus	Jerusha Jhirad (1890-1984) Physician
Joshee	Crater	Venus	Anandibai Joshee (1865-1887); Pioneer physician
Kakori	Crater	Mars	Kakori, a town in Lucknow dist of U.P.
Kali	Mountain	Venus	Kali (Hindu), Hindu goddess, mother of death.
Kalidasa	Crater	Mercury	Kālidāsa (5th cen), Sanskrit writer
Kamadhenu	Corona	Venus	Hindu goddess of plenty
Logtak	Lake	Titan	Loktak lake in Manipur
Lonar	Crater	Mars	Lonar, saltwater lake in Buldana dist of Maharashtra
Maya	Corona	Venus	Hindu mother earth goddess
Medhavi	Crater	Venus	Ramabai Medhavi (1858–1922); Author, humanitarian
Mitra	Crater	Moon	Sisir Kumar Mitra (1890-1963), Physicist
Nishtigri	Corona	Venus	Hindu earth mother
Poona	Crater	Mars	Pune, city in Maharashtra
Prthvi	Corona	Venus	Hindu mother earth goddess.
Purandhi	Corona	Venus	Hindu goddess of plenty
Radhika	Crater	Venus	Indian first name
Raman	Crater	Moon	Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), Physicist
Rampyari	Crater	Venus	Indian first name
Rani	Crater	Venus	Indian first name
Ravi	Crater	Moon	Indian male name
Rayadurg	Crater	Mars	Rayadurg, a town in Anantapur dist of Andhra Pradesh
Saha	Crater	Moon	Meghnad Saha (1893-1956), Astrophysicist
Sandila	Crater	Mars	Sandila, a town in Hardoi dist of U.P.
Sarabhai	Crater	Moon	Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (1919-1971), Space scientist
Sarasvati	Mountain	Venus	Saraswati, Hindu river goddess
Sher-Gil	Crater	Mercury	Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), Indian painter
Sita	Crater	Moon	Indian female name
Sunrta	Corona	Venus	Hindu fertility goddess
Sur Das	Crater	Mercury	Surdas (1478-1581), Poet
Tadaka	Corona	Venus	Indian mythical character
Tansen	Crater	Mercury	Tansen (1506-1589), Hindustani music composer
Thakur	Crater	Mercury	Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Writer
Tyagaraja	Crater	Mercury	Tyāgarāja (1767-1847), Carnatic music Composer
Ushas	Mountain	Venus	Indian goddess of dawn.
Valmiki	Crater	Mercury	Valmiki, Indian poet
Vasudhara	Corona	Venus	Buddhist female Bodhisattva of abundance
Vyasa	Crater	Mercury	Vyasa, Indian poet

Of course, this list will burgeon rapidly in the coming years. But still, there are some names which should be there even in present conditions. Politicians, please excuse. So, what’s the procedure to name an asteroid to honour a person we admire? The easiest way is to discover one. The discoverer has the right to name it, but if it remains unnamed for 10 years, there’s a chance for the public. All proposed names will be scrutinized by a 15-person working group for Small Body Nomenclature (http://www.ss.astro.umd.edu/IAU/csbn/) of the IAU. Proposed names should be

• 16 characters or less in length
• preferably one word
• pronounceable
• non-offensive
• not too similar to an existing name

A complete list of all available names can be downloaded here. So, why wait? Start pressurising them!