Explained | How are touchdown points on the Moon named?

India on August 23 scripted history as ISRO's ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth's only natural satellite.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that the spot where Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander touched down would henceforth be called 'Shiv Shakti Point', and the site where the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash-landed on the Moon's surface in 2019 would be known as 'Tiranga Point'.

"There is a scientific tradition of naming the location of a touchdown. India has decided to name the lunar region where our Chandrayaan-3 landed. The place where Vikram lander descended will be known as Shiv Shakti point."

"In Shiv, there is resolution for the welfare of humanity and Shakti gives us strength to fulfil those resolutions. This Shiv Shakti point of the moon also gives a sense of connection with Himalayas to Kanyakumari", the Prime Minister said while addressing Team ISRO at the space agency's Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC).

Who names points on the Moon?

The points on the lunar surface are named by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The international body founded in 1919 and "has been the arbiter of planetary and satellite nomenclature", according to its website.

The body has 92 members and India is one of them.

The IAU comprises of several task forces, which includes an executive committee, divisions, commissions, and working groups, which included prominent astronomers from across the globe.

How the IAU names planetary objects?

According to IAU's official website, its working groups usually handle the process.

"Celestial nomenclature has long been a controversial topic. At its inaugural meeting in 1922 in Rome, the IAU standardized the constellation names and abbreviations. More recently, IAU Committees or Working Groups have given or certified the names of astronomical objects and features."

Its process is as follows:

"Planetary features are named only when members of the professional science community have a specific scientific need to name a planetary surface feature," its website states.

“When the first images of the surface of a planet or satellite are obtained, new themes for naming features are chosen and names of a few important features are proposed, usually by the appropriate IAU Task Group in collaboration with the mission team.”

"Later, as higher-resolution images and maps become available, names for additional features may be requested by investigators mapping or describing specific surfaces or topographic formations. Mission teams are encouraged to identify a single person to be a nomenclature point of contact for the team and to establish communication with the IAU 6-9 months before spacecraft landing," according to the website.

"Any objections to approved names based on significant substantive problems or inconsistent application of normal IAU naming conventions must be forwarded in writing or email to the IAU General-Secretary within three months from the time the name was published in the Gazetteer. The General-Secretary will make a recommendation to the WGPSN Chair as to whether or not the approved name(s) should be reconsidered. The General-Secretary, in concurrence with the IAU President, may seek the advice of external consultants."

What are the criteria in naming such objects?

While the IAU gives suggestions, it has stated the name must be simple, clear and unambiguous, as well as original. Along with this, it also states that the name should not have any political, military or religious significance.

It also lays out that though commemoration of persons is not ideal, it may be done in certain circumstances. It states that the person must have been deceased for at east three years prior to the submission of the proposal.

It has a host of other rules, such as: “No names having political, military or religious significance may be used, except for names of political figures prior to the 19th century.” Further, “Commemoration of persons on planetary bodies should not normally be a goal in itself, but may be employed in special circumstances… Persons being so honored must have been deceased for at least three years, before a proposal may be submitted.”

Other sites on Moon named by India

After the first Chandrayaan mission back in 2008, the spot where the probe crashed was named 'Jawahar Sthal' after Jawaharlal Nehru.