Status: 25.11.2023, 19:00 PM
By: Carolin Gehrmann
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An alliance of astronomers is calling for the renaming of the Magellanic Clouds. The historical legacy of the namesake weighs heavily for various reasons, they say.
Frankfurt – The Magellanic Clouds – south of the equator, the bright satellite galaxies of our Milky Way are visible to the naked eye. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds owe their name to a man who went down in the history books as an important navigator and explorer: Ferdinand Magellan. Under the leadership of the Portuguese, who was in the service of the Spanish kingdom, the first historically documented circumnavigation of the world was achieved in the 16th century. But it is not an honour for the two star groups to bear this name, says an association of astronomers.
"Colonizer and slave trader" – astronomers call for renaming of the Magellanic Clouds
A "colonial master, slave trader and murderer" should no longer be allowed to have the privilege of giving his name to two star groups that are so important in the astronomical world. The scientists are therefore calling on the International Astronomical Union – the organization responsible for naming astronomical objects – to rename the Magellanic Clouds, as they write in an article in the journal Physics APS.
A statue in Sabrosa, Portugal, commemorates Ferdinand Magellan. (Archive image) © imago images/Xinhua
"Names reflect the values of the community," says Mia de los Reyes, who wrote the article on behalf of the Astronomical Alliance, explaining the group's motivations. "Naming objects, buildings, and places after people has long been a way for society to honor individuals for their discoveries, their accomplishments, or the values they symbolize."
Names as a reflection of social values – Magellan should not bear this honor, say scientists
The Magellanic Clouds
The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are companions of our galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud is about 180,000 light-years away from Earth, the smaller cloud is a little further away, about 190,000 light-years lie between it and Earth.
More than 150 years ago, the light from Cepheid stars, whose luminosity changes over certain periods of time, served as the basis for calculations that made it possible to measure the universe.
But Magellan's reputation is a questionable one for many – not only in the world of astronomy. The arguments of his critics are quite something: the colonialist legacy of the Portuguese is too violent – therefore his name should not be associated with celestial objects. Magellan committed "terrible acts" against the indigenous populations in the regions he visited, de los Reyes also emphasizes. "In present-day Guam and the Philippines, Magellan and his men burned down villages and killed their inhabitants." He brutally enslaved the Tehuelche people in what is now Argentina.
For example, original records from the time describe how he handcuffed the "youngest and best-proportioned men and told them that the handcuffs were gifts," explains de los Reyes, who is an assistant professor of astronomy at Amherst College in Massachusetts. "I, and many other astronomers, believe that astronomical objects and facilities should not be named after Magellan or anyone else with a violent colonialist legacy."
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Magellan was not an astronomer himself, critics argue
But from a scientific point of view, there is also a lot to be said for renaming the Magellanic Clouds. Magellan was a captain, but neither an astronomer nor the first to document these galaxies. True, a scribe on board Magellan's expedition ship described two groups of stars in the southern night sky that looked like clouds.
Large Magellanic Cloud © JPL-Caltech/dpa
However, the clouds were discovered even before Magellan's great breakthrough, during which he discovered a passage between the South American mainland and the island of Tierra del Fuego – called the Strait of Magellan. Arab and Italian explorers reported the glowing celestial formations in their records at least a decade before Magellan's expedition, de los Reyes points out. "Magellan did not make astronomical discoveries, and for many he continues to be a symbol of imperialist and anti-indigenous violence."
The Hubble telescope was able to capture images of an area in the Large Magellanic Cloud where stars were born – about 170,000 light-years from Earth.
The Magellanic Clouds were named by indigenous peoples thousands of years earlier
In addition, legends about the bright sky clouds are entwined throughout the southern hemisphere – with their own names given by the indigenous peoples that are thousands of years older than Magellan. "The communities that suffered under Magellan have rich astronomical traditions that are often less appreciated than those in the West. Even in the field of professional astronomy, the effects of Spanish colonization are still felt today."
De los Reyes and her colleagues see it as their duty to "tell the story of the universe." But the most important thing is how it is told. Naming monuments or institutions after individuals can always be difficult. But such an honor should only ever be bestowed on people who "represent our highest ideals," according to the recommendation of the astronomy alliance around de los Reyes.