Geminga

Authors: Eric Mamajek, Susanne M Hoffmann

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Geminga profile card (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN).

Geminga is a modern star name adopted by the International Astronomical Union in the IAU-Catalog of Star Names (IAU-CSN). Its origin is Contemporary. It is the name of HIPIntegerPart[] (, PSR B0633+17) in constellation Gem. Astrophysically important nearby pulsar – 1127 references. NASA ADS lists 844 publications with “Geminga” in abstract. Name listed in Lortet & Spite (1986) IAU dictionary of names.

screenshot of the publication of the name "Geminga"

Etymology and History

Geminga is an artificially invented term for the gamma-ray and X-ray pulsar discovered and named by Giovanni Bignani+ 1983, see footnote below. Bignami (1944-2017) was Italian physicist, later chairman of Italian Space Agency (2007-2008)

The authors explain the pun: "This source is in the constellation of Gemini and it is a gamma-ray source. Pronounced with both G's as in "get", the word means "does not exist" or "it's not there" in Milanese dialect.

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  Geminga profile card (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN).
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  Geminga stickfigure (CC BY Sadegh Faghanpour for IAU WGSN).

Mythology

no mythology

IAU Star Name

Name already in CDS-SIMBAD, and in the Wikipedia

The name was adopted by the IAU WGSN on 2022/04/04.

• Website of the IAU WGSN: https://exopla.net/

Reference

• References (general)
• Bignami, G. F. ; Caraveo, P. A. ; Lamb, R. C. (1983). An identification for "GEMINGA" (2CG 195+04) 1E 0630+178 : a unique object in the error box of the high-energy gamma-ray source. Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 272, p. L9-L13