June 09, 2023 12:51
Three Korean teenagers have named a new star and exoplanet spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope.
The International Astronomical Union on Thursday picked 20 names for new celestial bodies from a pool of 603 suggestions from 91 countries.
An exoplanet and its host star were named "Ahra" and "Maru" after a suggestion by Kim Do-yeon, Kim Soo-min and Lee Ji-woo of Dongduk Girls' High School in Seoul.
The last Korean names given to distant celestial bodies were Baekdu and Halla in 2019.
The girls said they came up with the names -- "Ahra" is associated with "ocean" and "Maru" means "sky" -- because they wanted to draw attention to the climate crisis.
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