Astronomers decided to erase Magellan’s name from the starry sky 08:11

For centuries, the name of the famous explorer Ferdinand Magellan has been used to name space objects. Modern astronomers have decided this is unfair and should get rid of such names, he writes APS Physics.

The two brightly shining satellite galaxies of our Milky Way in the southern hemisphere are called the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

Astronomers believe a 16th-century Portuguese sailor was a murderer who enslaved and burned the homes of indigenous people on his maiden voyage to circumnavigate the world. They insist that his name should no longer be mentioned or associated with these clouds of stars.

“Magellan did terrible things. In Guam and what became the Philippines, he and his men burned villages and killed their inhabitants,” said astronomer Mia de los Reyes of Amherst College in Massachusetts.

Magellan led the Spanish expedition in 1519 and made the first European voyage to Asia across the Pacific Ocean, but died in 1521 in battle with indigenous peoples in what is now the Philippines.

In a paper in the journal APS Physics, Reyes calls on the International Astronomical Union, the organization responsible for naming astronomical objects, to rename the Magellanic clouds. “I and many other astronomers believe that astronomical objects and facilities should not be named after Magellan or anyone else with a brutal colonial legacy,” the scientist said.

Professor David Hogg of New York University added: “The real problem is that clouds are not its invention.” The indigenous people of the southern hemisphere could see these objects clearly and gave them their own names. In fact, they only took the name of the explorer towards the end of the 19th century.

“When we promote the names of people whose lives and legacies are actively harmed, like Magellan, we alienate the communities that are harmed,” Reyes said.

It is not yet clear what alternative names could be given to the Magellanic clouds. “Milky Clouds” was put forward as one of the suggestions.

Also, one of the most unusual bodies of water on the planet is named after the researcher, we are talking about the Strait of Magellan.

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