UGA student wins Radiolab contest to name one of Earth's quasi-moons

Look to the sky – and ask Bulldog nation for support – and one of Earth's quasi-moons gets a cool new name, thanks to UGA student Clay Chilcutt. 

In May 2024, the science podcast Radiolab and the International Astronomical Union joined forces to launch a contest that invited listeners to help name one of Earth’s quasi-moons. Close to 3,000 people from more than 90 countries submitted entries. 

UGA faculty member Hina Shaikh incorporated this competition into a class activity in her ASTR 1010 course, when the class was covering the topic of small solar system objects. The students had complete freedom in their choice of name suggestion submission.

Radiolab convened a panel of experts and interested parties, including teachers, students, astronomers, astrophysicists, journalists and artists. Actor Penn Badgley, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,” astrophysicist and podcast host Dr. Moiya McTier and astronomer and educator Salman Hameed, to name a few. They narrowed the names down to seven finalists, including two of Shaik's students' out of over 2,700 names submitted, from 96 countries. During the month of December 2024, more than 10,000 people cast a vote to choose Chilcutt's Cardea – the Roman Goddess of doorways and transitions – to be the name for the quasi-moon previously known as (164207) 2004 GU9.

Asteroids orbiting the sun in a similar path to Earth's, quasi-moons escort our planet on its journey a few centuries at a time.

"Being a history buff who like empires, especially Roman, I decided to do some research on Greco-Roman mythology and after reading several names, I landed on Cardea," said Chilcutt, a sophomore from Douglasville, Georgia, majoring in Accounting and Finance. "I chose her not only for her name but what she represents, perfect for a celestial object such as the quasi moon. Learning about astronomy and astrophysics is a hobby of mine and the class was very interesting, and my professor was very knowledgeable and engaging. I learned about quasi moons in class, and this project was extra credit, but I didn’t participate just for extra credit; I did all the research for it because I personally found it interesting. It is truly an honor to have a contribution to science and to be a part of something of some historical significance." 

"We are always trying to find current and relevant examples to connect to our courses," said Shaikh, instructor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of physics and astronomy. "This quasi-moon is a great example of a minor body in our solar system and the timing of its Earth approach was fortunate, because I could use it as a specific example to explain the dynamics of small celestial bodies."

A quasi-moon name submitted by UGA freshman Samuel Lashley was also among the seven finalists in the Radiolab competition.

"I am excited about the outcome and happy for Clay," Shaikh said. I was hoping to get my students engaged and interested in Astronomy with a little extra credit and was not expecting that any more could come of it. Of course, once two of my students' name suggestions were in the final vote I was rooting for one of them to win, and Clay and 'Cardea' got it."

Image: UGA student Clay Chilcutt, submitted photo.