Exo world votes sought from Scottish star-gazers

Exo worlds are planets orbiting a distant star

Star-gazers have been asked to back a Scottish bid to name a distant star and its three planets.

Voting closes on 31 October in the International Astronomical Union's NameExoWorlds competition.

Ayrshire Astronomical Society is the only Scottish group to make the contest's shortlist.

Its entry is for the system Upsilon Andromedae, with Moore suggested as the name for its star and Sagan, Clark and Schiehallion for the planets.

The star is visible with the naked eye from Scotland.

Moore has been suggested as the name for the star in honour of the late English astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore.

Sagan would honour American astronomer Carl Sagan, Clarke recall legendary science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke while Schiehallion is a 3,547ft (1,083m) mountain in Perthshire.

Rival names for the star and planets have been submitted by groups from all over the world, including Japan.

A spokesman for Ayrshire Astronomical Society said: "If we are lucky enough to win that would give us a chance to get a Scottish name into the heavens."

The IAU expects to make an announcement on the results of the vote in mid-November.