mundiastronomy.ie

Our Astronomy Club was delighted that the propsal we wrote and submitted to the International Astronomy Union was accepted. Now we are the first Irish school or college (in fact we're the very first Irish people) to have named both an exoplanet and its host star !!!
Here is a link to a news item about it: Bran and Tuiren

The constellation Canes Venatici is Latin for "Hunting Dogs". It sits beside the constellation Bootes, the herdsman. Mundi Astronomy suggested calling the star HAT - P - 36 "Tuiren" and her companion planet HAT-P-36 b "Bran" - the b being for "Bran". "Why?" you might ask, well …

Tuiren, Fionn mac Cumhaill's aunt, was turned into a dog by Ulhtdealb, the jealous lover of Tuiren's husband, Iollan Eachtach. Turin gave birth to two pups, Bran and Sceolan. These grew to become the loyal hounds of Fionn, who would one day find Sadbh, his future wife.
Uchtdealdb and the Fear Doirche - both dark otherworld figures - turned Tuiren and Sadbh into a dog and a deer respectively. Fionn spent seven years looking for his wife Sadbh, after she was once again turned into a deer. They never found her, but instead the hounds found Oisin, the son his wife had given birth to. Tuiren's spell was eventually broken.
Uchdealbh and the Fear Doirche, like the confounding variables encountered by TEPs, mask the influence and mystery of the formation and evolution of planetary systems (mythological figures) - while the search for Sadbh and other worlds goes on and on … Perhaps we may one day find Sadbh and Sceolan in that remote and distant past …