Cardea Ascends: The Journey of a Quasi-Moon After Winning Its Name!

For millennia, Cardea has been recognized as the Roman deity of portals and transformations, serving as a protector of thresholds. On Monday, she ascended to the celestial hierarchy alongside other mythic personalities like Mars, Venus, and Andromeda.

However, Cardea is neither a planet nor a constellation. Instead, she is classified as a quasi-moon — a genuine type of asteroid that seems to perform a unique orbital choreography around Earth.

The International Astronomical Union, the body of scientists responsible for bestowing official names upon celestial entities, chose Cardea through a naming competition that received over 2,700 submissions. The chosen name was proposed by Clayton Chilcutt, 19, a sophomore at the University of Georgia, who engaged in the contest as part of a bonus assignment in an introductory astronomy course.

“I stumbled upon Cardea, and upon reading the description, it just resonates with a celestial vibe,” remarked Mr. Chilcutt, who is majoring in accounting and finance, further noting that his “minor contribution to science” is now recorded in history.

But as he delved deeper, Mr. Nasser, holding a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard, discovered that the mark on the poster indicating a moon was technically inaccurate; it was not truly a moon, yet also not not a moon, as he puts it.

A planet revolves around a star, while a moon revolves around a planet. Quasi-moons orbit the sun, yet are close enough to planets to give the impression of compact moons “performing this dual Hula-Hoop dance out in space,” explained Mr. Nasser.

He also uncovered that Zoozve’s actual designation was not the jumble of consonants but rather a misreading from the poster’s creator: Zoozve referred to 2002-VE. Nevertheless, he persuaded the astronomical union, which typically accepts only mythological names from cultural or literary sources, to officially name 2002-VE as Zoozve.

“It was completely astonishing and felt like a small triumph, a tiny push for humor in the cosmos,” Mr. Nasser remarked.

However, Zoozve wasn’t solitary. Actually, Earth possessed several quasi-moons that were also eligible for naming (with only one lacking an alphanumeric label, Kamo’oalewa).

“It appeared no one cared!” Mr. Nasser noted. “We care, I care, and many would care.”

So in June, “Radiolab” collaborated with the astronomers union to discover a mythological name worthy of 2004 GU9, a quasi-moon identified in 2004 by the LINEAR project in Socorro, N.M. According to the astronomical union, one of its nearest approaches to Earth will occur in October 2026, at about 18.5 million miles away.

The competition attracted submissions from over 100 distinct nations. Numerous participants penned compelling narratives of mythological origin tales, some from their own heritages and others from far-off lands, and detailed what such a name would signify globally. The astronomers union filtered out duplicates, names already utilized, and “clearly non-mythological names that showed little effort,” Mr. Nasser indicated, such as Mooney McMoonface.

“Radiolab” assisted in assembling a distinguished panel comprising astronomers, journalists, educators, students, and even a few notable enthusiasts, including Bill Nye, Penn Badgley, and Celia Rose Gooding. The panelists narrowed the options down to seven finalists — two of which originated from the same University of Georgia class — and then released the shortlist to the public.

Other finalists included Bakunawa, a legendary dragon from Philippine folklore, believed to emerge from the sea to devour the moon; Ehaema, or “Mother Twilight” in Estonian lore; and Tecciztecatl, an Aztec lunar deity who once aspired to became the sun.

“It truly engages individuals with science who might otherwise think, ‘Nah, that’s not for me,’” commented Kelly Blumenthal, the director of astronomy outreach for the global organization.

Ms. Blumenthal expressed that it would “be unfortunate” to disregard the other finalists, stating that the union’s naming committee intends to recommend their future usage.

For Mr. Nasser, Cardea, the chosen name, proved to be appropriate for a quasi-moon: An ancient sentinel and protector, a figure to safeguard us amid tumult and change.

Mr. Nasser expressed hope that the naming contest allowed individuals to “sense this connection to something greater than all the disorder occurring on the ground right now,” he remarked. “Space represents the broadest perspective we possess.”