[AstroNet] Pinelands High learner sends Ubuntu to the Heavens

[Christian Hettlage]

Dear All,

Once again Mailman decided to discard a relevant message. It is attached below.

Cheers,

Christian

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"The winning name is particularly good because it is cross-cultural and has been embraced by all of South Africa" said Dr. Amanda Gulbis

The recent asteroid competition run by S.A. Astronomical Observatory and Southern African Large Telescope (SALT ) for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 has received lots of entries from enthusiastic young South Africans. Unfortunately, as competions go, not everyone is a winner, although, all the names were very interesting with beautiful motivations. Ubuntu was voted number one out of five shortlisted names. It received 207 votes from the members of the public. Nabeela Kajee, a learner at Pinelands High in Cape Town named the asteroid and her motivation was absolutely amazing. The name announcement came at a time when South Africa is commemorating the unbanning of political parties and the release of Dr. Rholihlahla Mandela from Robben Island. It is therefore fitting to say, as the Asteroid is up in space it will float around with one of the founding provisions of the new South Africa, Ubuntu meaning "I am because we are". 

Nabeela Kajee will walk away with a state of the art telescope and we hope that she will explore the mysteries of the Universe. Dr. Amanda Gulbis, a SALT astronomer who discovered the asteroid in March 2005 while searching for cold icy bodies called Kuiper Belt Objects which reside in the outskirts of our solar system, is extremely happy with the outcome of the competition. In addition to her comment above, Dr. Amanda Gulbis, continued to say "Many young people have learned about how asteroids are discovered and named.  I hope that the excitement towards astronomy, and science in general, will continue long after this contest.  It is certainly exciting to think that everyone in the country can look at the night time sky and imagine asteroid "Ubuntu" moving through the heavens!"

Members of the public were given a two weeks to vote for their favourite name, the five shortlisted names were Ubuntu, Jabulani, Mzanzi, Ilitye, and Isiqobo. The announcement and acceptence of the name in South Africa is only the beginning, Ubuntu has now been submitted to the International Astronomy Union (IAU) for approval. We await their response with bated breath, while we hope for the best for Ubuntu.

For more information: Dr. Enrico Olivier on 021 447 9313
Further details about the survey in which the discovery was made can be found at http://www.lowell.edu/Research/DES/. 
Competition website : www.nameourasteroid.org.za 
The SAAO official website is http://www.saao.ac.za/,  
SALT website is http://www.salt.ac.za 


-- 
Regards

Thembela Mantungwa
S.A. Astronomical Observatory
Tel: 021 460 9319
Fax: 086 690 5739
Mob: 071 105 0109
Email: tm at saao.ac.za 
Website: www.saao.ac.za / www.salt.ac.za 

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