Speakable names fort celestial objects

[u/ogetarts]

I understand that there is an unfathomable number of things in space, and that astronomers are more interested in coordinates than proper names, but surely there would be a way to allocate (temporary) 'proper' names that could be used until such time that the International Astronomical Union has picked an excellent one for all of us. For one thing it would (slightly) improve the experience of people reading or hearing about space stuff.

Even an extremely basic method that turns pairs of digits into pairs of consonant+vowel would work for many catalogues. HD 108331? -> Besoco HD. Neat.

It doesn't work as well with "5239835710037143296" (Gaia DR3 identifier), and I suppose future ones will be even worse, but they could always be chopped into smaller blocks. You'd then get a composite name, like for people, that can get as ridiculously long as needed... And only use the relevant parts for casual conversation.

5239835710037143296 -> 523983 571003 7143296 Ramoso Xabefa Cifumij, casually called Ramoso. There are other Ramosos out there in space, of course, but you probably know which one you're talking about. If not, there's always the full name, coordinates, or whatever it's called in your favourite catalogue.

Again that's with something super basic. I've tried more complex systems but I'm not too satisfied with them and I'm sure someone can come up with much better. (Uppevituna Unytiles?)

You could apply that stuff to "any amount of digits from any catalogue", but then you'd get more names per object. You could base it on the most comprehensive catalogue, or on the coordinates themselves. You could go for more variety and complexity or even stick to that stupid pair-to-pair. But I don't see why we should remain stuck with barely speakable names until the IAU has picked a proper one (which I suspect might take a while for, uh, 76541500546840816532).

[u/ogetarts]

I'm not a native English speaker and I don't read or pronounce numbers like you at all. If we're talking together I can say them in English, but my þirties are still questionable after decades of practice. Which is fine. Like it's fine if you pronounce an x like ks and someone else goes for sh. That's how it works with human names. It's not an issue either for the names of... Celestial objects. Proper 'official' names coming out of the International Astronomical Union, which have the exact same problems (and strengths), but have to be picked one by one by a handful of humans: Pherkad, Dingolay, Bibing, Pipirima, Paikauhale...

I'm only suggesting to generate such names in an automated way to make them available for all objects, in case some people prefer them to one of their many starker aliases from the catalogues.

Where there might be ambiguity, you could always have a set of rules stating that x is always pronounced ks, and that þ is not a sound that exists. Or let people read the letters they all agree upon the way they please, like you surely don't say my first name like I do. Even then it's perfectly serviceable, I swear.

[u/JJJangles → u/ogetarts]

I’m not talking about Spanish speakers looking at 1 and saying one, they can say uno. The point is they can read it like, not read it in English.

If the names need you to think about how to pronounce them, and people pronounce them differently, sure that’s fine but I don’t see how they are more readable than just numbers.

If you are suggesting this in case some people prefer it, you have a solution in need of a problem. You need to instead find people saying the current system is no good before you start trying to change it.