Poles in Space: Moons, Stars & Asteroids with Polish Names
The universe is eye-wateringly humongous, so the overwhelming majority of its stars, asteroids and so forth haven’t been given names by humans yet. But of that thin portion of labelled locations, many have been bestowed with names linked to Polish culture – so, of course, Culture.pl is here to show you the Polish stars.
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Colours of the Innermost Planet, Mercury, Image Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington
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We start off with the closest planet to the Sun. Mercury has a number of craters named after important Polish artists. In an area called the Shakespeare quadrangle, located at middle-latitude of the northern hemisphere of Mercury, there’s the Mickiewicz crater. It’s named after Poland’s eminent Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) who created pivotal works like the epic poem Pan Tadeusz and the four-part poetic drama Forefathers' Eve. Mickiewicz is equally as important to Poles as Shakespeare is to Englishmen so it seems that this crater is located in an appropriate region. The Mickiewicz crater has a diameter of 100 km and was given its name in 1976.
That same year, the Chopin crater was officially named after the world-famous Romantic pianist and composer Frederic Chopin (1810-1849). Among the most recognisable works by this amazing Polish artist are the dramatic Revolutionary Étude and the timeless Funeral March. The Chopin crater has a diameter of 131 kilometres and is located in the Michelangelo quadrangle, an area of Mercury in the planet’s southern polar region. One can imagine that the virtuoso Chopin wouldn’t have minded having a place named after him in an area whose namesake is the outstanding Michelangelo.
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Crater Chopin on Mercury, mosaic of photos by Messenger, photo: USGS / NASA
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Also near Mercury’s south pole you can find the Kobro and Komeda craters. The first is named after the noted sculptor and art theoretician Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951). She was one of Poland’s leading avant-garde artists and is known for sculptures like Spatial Composition (2) and Female Nude. The other crater’s namesake is Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969), a renowned Polish jazz composer and pianist. He is often remembered for his Rosemary’s Lullaby, a haunting piece of music created for Roman Polański’s famed film Rosemary’s Baby.
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Both craters exhibit prominent central peaks, and are located near Mercury's South Pole. […] The craters are of approximately the same size, and appear to share a rim.
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From nasa.gov, the official website of NASA
The Kobro and Komeda craters gained their names in the year 2012 and measure about 54 kilometres in diameter.
Three years later the Boznańska crater was named after the painter Olga Boznańska (1865- 1940). She is considered one of Poland’s most important modernist artists thanks to such fabulous paintings as Girl with Chrysanthemums and From a Walk. The Boznańska crater has a diameter of 72 kilometres and lies in Mercury’s northern hemisphere, in an area known as the Victoria quadrangle.
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Venus as photographed by the Mariner 10 probe, 1974, photo: Images processed by Ricardo Nunes/Ricardo Nunes/NASA
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Moving logically on to the second planet from the Sun, Venus is home to a couple of craters named after outstanding Polish women artists – appropriate for a planet whose namesake is the Roman goddess of love, and strongly associated with femininity.
Near Venus’ north pole, you can find the Landowska crater measuring 33 kilometres in diameter. it was named in 1985 after Wanda Landowska (1879-1959), a celebrated Polish harpsichord and piano player. Landowska is best remembered as a magnificent performer, one who helped revive the harpsichord. Thanks to her passion for the authentic performance of historical compositions written for this instrument, she successfully reintroduced the forgotten harpsichord to the classical music stage in the early 20th century.
Another Polish pianist with a Venus crater is Tekla Bądarzewska (1829- 1861). Even though Bądarzewska was most probably an amateur without musical education, she managed to compose one of Poland’s most popular piano tunes: A Maiden’s Prayer. This pleasant miniature, one of many written by Bądarzewska, was so popular that the notes for it were issued over 500 times across five continents. The Bądarzewska crater gained its name in the year 1991 and has a diameter of about 29.5 kilometres. It’s located in an area known as Thetis Regio which is situated next to Venus’ equator.
The year 1994 saw three Venus craters get named after Poles. The Konopnicka crater’s namesake is the acclaimed realist poet and children’s author Maria Konopnicka (1842- 1910). Among her most valued works are the patriotic poem Rota and the literary fairy tale O Krasnoludkach i o Sierotce Marysi (On Dwarfs and the Little Orphan Mary). The Konopnicka crater measures 20 kilometres in diameter and lies in a region called Rusalka Planitia. This area is located near the aforementioned Thetis Regio region and, curiously, is named after a rusałka or a female Slavic daemon.
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Maps of Venus, list of famous women provided by the National Organization for Women, photo: Planetary Names: Welcome
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The second from 1994 was named after Zofia Nałkowska (1884- 1954). Like Konopnicka, Nałkowska was a highly significant Polish writer as well. One of Nałkowska’s most important books is Medallions, a shocking literary testimony about the Holocaust. The Nałkowska crater has a diameter of 21 kilometres and can be found in Venus’ northern hemisphere in an area known as Beta Regio. This crater was formed when an object, perhaps a meteorite, impacted the surface of Venus.
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With no indication of tectonic or volcanic modification, this 21-km diameter crater, unanimously classified as pristine […] has a bright-radar central peak and a dark-radar flat floor. […] Although the region around Nalkowska dips, the crater itself does not.
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From ‘Impact Craters as Indicators of Tectonic and Volcanic Activity in the Beta-Atla-Themis Region, Venus’
The last of the 1994 trio is the Oleśnicka crater. Its namesake is Zofia Oleśnicka who was, quite probably, the first female Polish poet on record. The date of her birth is unknown, but she passed away around the year 1567. She is said to have written the religious song Z Ochotnem Sercem, Ciebie Wysławiam Mój Panie (With an Eager Heart, I Praise Thee My Lord). However, it ought to be added that some question whether this work, published in 1556, was actually written by Oleśnicka. Her crater measures 33 kilometres in diameter and lies in a region called Ulfrun Regio, located in the Western hemisphere of Venus.
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The asteroid belt (white dots) is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, photo: Commons by Masur using CommonsHelper / Wikimedia.org
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Now it’s time for us to leave Venus and travel into space. Between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars there’s an area of the Solar System known as the asteroid belt. Here you can find a staggering multitude of asteroids circling the Sun.
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Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. The current known asteroid count is: 1,100,844. Most of this ancient space rubble can be found […] within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest at about 329 miles (530 kilometres) in diameter – to bodies that are less than 33 feet (10 meters) across. The total mass of all the asteroids combined is less than that of Earth's Moon.
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From solarsystem.nasa.gov, a website of NASA
As you may have guessed, some of the names of the asteroids in the belt reference Polish culture. For example, 3836 Lem is an asteroid whose namesake is Poland’s celebrated science-fiction writer Stanisław Lem (1921-2006). Lem was among the most influential sci-fi authors of his time and continues to be a hugely important figure in the genre. He often wrote about space travel and penned classics like Tales of Pirx the Pilot and Fables for Robots. 3836 Lem has a diameter of four kilometres and orbits the Sun over 3 years and 128 days. It was discovered in the year 1979 by the Russian and Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh.
Another body in the asteroid belt linked to Lem is 343000 Ijontichy. This asteroid was named after a character that appears in a number of Lem’s books – the space traveller Ijon Tichy. 343000 Ijontichy circles the Sun in 5.1 years and was discovered in 2009 by two German astronomers: Erwin Schwab and Ute Zimmer. The size of this space-travelling rock appears to be unknown. As we’ll find out later, Lem’s writing influenced other space place names too.
The asteroid belt’s 4114 Jasnorzewska was named after one of Poland’s most talented Interwar poets, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska (1891- 1945). Thanks to works like the volume Krystalizacje (Crystallisations), she is often remembered as a creator of outstanding erotic feminine poetry. 4114 Jasnorzewska was discovered by the Czech astronomer Zdeňka Vávrová in the year 1982. It has a diameter of 5.5 kilometres and orbits the Sun in slightly over 4 years.
Sebastian Bauman's poster for the play 'The Star Diaries' based on the same-titled book by Stanisław Lem, 2015, photo: Olsztyński Teatr Lalek
Another Polish author named in the asteroid belt is Janusz Korczak (1878-1942). His King Matt the First is one of Poland’s best-known children’s books. Aside from being a writer, Korczak was also a tutor and social activist – he ran an orphanage from 1912 until 1942 for Jewish children in Warsaw. Tragically, he and his pupils perished after they were taken away to the Treblinka death camp by the Nazi Germans. The asteroid in question is called 2163 Korczak and has a diameter of 24.3 kilometres. It orbits the Sun in 5 years and 206 days and was discovered at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in 1971.
Like Korczak, Władysław Szpilman (1911-2000) was also a Polish Jew. His difficult World War II experiences were shown in Roman Polański’s Oscar-winning film The Pianist. Szpilman was a renowned piano player and composer and often on Polish Radio. He authored many hit songs, including the cheerful Czerwony Autobus (Red Bus). His asteroid, 9973 Szpilman, circles the Sun in just over four years. It was discovered in 1993 by the Belgian astronomer Eric Elst. It appears that the size of 9973 Szpilman is yet to be determined.
Another Polish creator of music who gave his name to an asteroid in the asteroid belt is Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020). He was one of Poland’s most valued contemporary composers and conductors as well as a world authority on classical music. Among his most important compositions are Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and St. Luke Passion. His 21059 Penderecki was discovered in the year 1991 by the German astronomer Freimut Börngen. It has a diameter measuring 5.8 kilometres and orbits the Sun over 5 years and 42 days.
Also, this July the media announced that an asteroid in the main asteroid belt was recently named after Poland’s Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 and author of such outstanding books as Flights and The Books of Jacob. 555468 Tokarczuk was discovered by two Polish astronomers Michał Kusiak and Michał Żołnowski, and circles the Sun in 4.7 years.
It’s worth adding that the previously-mentioned Chopin and Mickiewicz have asteroids named after them in the main asteroid belt too.
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Charon, taken by New Horizons late on 13 July 2015, this colour photograph was made using Adobe Photoshop CS5, photo: JHUAPL-SWRI / NASA
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As already mentioned Stanisław Lem inspired other names in space aside from 3836 Lem and 343000 Ijontichy. They can be found in the outer regions of the Solar System. There you can find Charon, the largest of the five moons of the dwarf planet Pluto (Pluto lost its status as a regular planet in the year 2006). Charon is home to the Pirx crater named after Pilot Pirx, a literary character created by Stanisław Lem.
Pirx is the protagonist of Lem’s 1968 collection of science fiction stories Tales of Pirx the Pilot. They are set in a future where space travel has become commonplace, even as tourism. Pirx is a likeable spaceship pilot who has a growing career and travels across the Solar System and beyond. He has many adventures, including ones during which he’s confronted with the world of machine thinking. He also reappears in Lem’s 1986 novel Fiasco.
The Pirx crater lies near Charon’s north pole and has a diameter of 90 kilometres. It was discovered in 2015 by the New Horizons probe and gained its name three years later.
Two other space names referencing Lem’s writing belong to objects located far beyond the Solar System, in the Pegasus constellation. There you can find the Solaris star which is orbited by the gas planet Pirx. Solaris is 161 light years away from Earth and has a slightly smaller radius then the Sun. It is classified as an orange dwarf – a type of star whose light is somewhat dimmer than that of the Sun.
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A view of the planet Pirx from its hypothetical moon (an artisitc vision), image: W. Zięba / PTA / IAU100
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The star Solaris was given its name in honour of Lem’s 1961 novel Solaris – although in this hugely popular book, Solaris is a planet, not a star. The plot follows a psychologist by the name of Kris Kelvin who arrives at a space station orbiting the planet, which is almost entirely covered by an intelligent ocean that can read people’s thoughts. A number of eerie situations ensue as the crew members aboard the station interact with this ocean. Solaris is considered one of Lem’s most important works and has been praised, among other things, for its highly original vision of extra-terrestrial intelligence.
The planet Pirx, on the other hand, was, of course, named after the aforementioned pilot character Pirx, and it is far larger than the moon with the Pirx crater:
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We learned about the existence of this planet in the year 2009 thanks to a discovery made by a team of Polish astronomers, consisting of: Professor Andrzej Niedzielski, Doctor Grzegorz Nowak, Doctor Monika Adamów and Professor Aleksander Wolszczan. According to the latest analyses, this planet has a mass 1.04 times the mass of Jupiter and a radius 1.23 times the radius of Jupiter. It circles its star in 269 Earth days.
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From urania.edu.pl, the website of the astronomical bimonthly ‘Urania – Postępy Astronomii’, trans. MK
The star Solaris and its accompanying planet Pirx gained their names in the year 2019.
Before we end our extra-terrestrial journey, it’s worth mentioning that there are plenty of other Polish place names in space. For example, on Mars you can find craters named after the Polish village of Puńsk and the Polish towns of Puławy, Grójec and Rypin. Also, the original name of the distant constellation of Scutum was linked to Poland. Scutum was discovered in the 17th century by the Gdańsk astronomer Jan Heweliusz whose benefactor was Poland’s king Jan III Sobieski. In honour of Sobieski’s victory in 1683’s Battle of Vienna, Heweliusz named this constellation Scutum Sobiescianum which is Latin for ‘Shield of Sobieski’. Apparently, Heweliusz found the arrangement of the stars in Scutum to be evocative of Sobieski’s coat of arms Janina, which features a shield. Eventually, however, this constellation’s name was shortened to just Scutum.
That concludes our tour of places in space with cultural Polish names. We hope you had a pleasant trip, and wish you a great time back on Earth!
Written by Marek Kępa, Jul 21
