We are proud to announce a new public outreach project – a planet adoption campaign to give the public a chance to adopt and name almost any of the known exoplanets in astronomical databases.

Uwingu’s open-ended ‘Adopt a Planet” campaign kicked off on today, Wednesday May 1, 2013.

To qualify for adoption, a nominated name in our Galactic Exoplanet Baby Book database will need 1000 votes, which can be purchased outright by an individual or may be a group effort involving friends, family, colleagues, class members, club members, even companies and Facebook groups—anyone.  Uwingu’s current “baby book” of names is growing daily with over 1,240 names to date. Any of the current names in the database except Albertus  Aludia—which won the alpha Centauri Bb naming competition and has therefore already been adopted–are eligible for adoption when their vote tally reaches 1,000 votes.

The namers whose nominated exoplanet names reach 1000 votes will be informed of their eligibility to choose almost any exoplanet in astronomical databases, which will then be publicized by Uwingu. Uwingu will also be giving recognition to names that reach thresholds of 100 and 500 votes.

Proceeds from the naming and voting will continue to help fuel new Uwingu grants to fund space exploration, research, and education.