In ancient times, only the
Sun and
Moon, a few hundred
stars and the most easily visible
planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified
astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered every year.
Astronomers need to be able to assign systematic designations to unambiguously identify all of these objects, and at the same time give names to the most interesting objects and, where relevant, features of those objects.