<p>The discovery team at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rYIJJP7audkC&amp;pg=PA65&amp;dq=Gomez%27s%20Hamburger&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiZs-zQrJ7yAhWkQkEAHWMlBO8Q6AEwB3oECAIQAg#v=onepage&amp;q=Gomez%27s%20Hamburger&amp;f=false" rel="noreferrer">New Scientist: 23 Jan 1986</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>If British Observers are feeling a pinch, they could always take a lead from their colleagues at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Astronomers there may be well on the way to getting funding from a fast-food chain having just named a celestial object &quot;Gomez's Big Mac&quot;.</p>
<p>Sponsership hasn't come into it yet, we gather. The observatory says they chose the name solely because the object, a star with a ring of dust, is &quot;hamburger shaped&quot;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two things to note in this source from 1986.  Firstly &quot;Big Mac&quot; not hamburger. The earliest sources from '86 all use &quot;Big Mac&quot;.  Secondly, it is identified as a star with a dust ring, not a planetary nebula.</p>
<p>It may be forgotten who exactly first said &quot;hamburger&quot; in the context of this object. But it is clear that it was named thus from the start, and not given this nickname later.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T07:23:05.267Z
2021-08-07T07:23:05.267Z
James K
<p>Science Alert's <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/eight-incredible-space-things-with-ridiculous-names" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Make Your Day Better With These 8 Cool Space Things That Have Totally Ridiculous Names</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Whoever named Gomez's Hamburger sure must have been hungry, because it doesn't really look much like a hamburger.</strong></p>
<p>The object was discovered in 1985 in images taken by Arturo Gomez of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and it was initially identified as a planetary nebula around a very old, dying star. But if it was a planetary nebula, it was an odd one, with a dark band stretching across the glowing centre.</p>
<p>It wasn't until 2008 that astronomers suggested Gomez's Hamburger might actually be the opposite; not an old star 6,500 light-years away, but a very young one, just 900 light-years away, around four times the mass of the Sun. So young, in fact, that it is still surrounded by a protoplanetary disc of dust and gas.</p>
<p>In this model, the bright regions - the burger's buns - are starlight reflecting off dust around it. The burger's filling is that protoplanetary disc, seen edge-on.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> Who named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomez%27s_Hamburger" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Gomez's Hamburger</a> (IRAS 18059-3211) as &quot;Gomez's Hamburger&quot;?</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/JJqqt.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JJqqt.jpg" alt="Gomez's Hamburger, NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA " /></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T01:47:28.480Z
Namings can have quite interesting origins, cf. [Whose name is Fleming 1 nebula bearing?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/36011/7982)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T17:43:44.730Z
It looks as much like a hamburger as the [hamburger menu button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button)
Barmar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T23:18:44.050Z
@Barmar and as much as [this looks like a meatball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_landing_system)
uhoh
<stellar-evolution><naming><proto-planetary-disk>
Who named Gomez's Hamburger as "Gomez's Hamburger"? (IRAS 18059-3211)
uhoh
# Who named Gomez's Hamburger as "Gomez's Hamburger"? (IRAS 18059-3211)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-07)

Science Alert's [Make Your Day Better With These 8 Cool Space Things That Have Totally Ridiculous Names](https://www.sciencealert.com/eight-incredible-space-things-with-ridiculous-names) says:

> **Whoever named Gomez's Hamburger sure must have been hungry, because it doesn't really look much like a hamburger.**
>
> The object was discovered in 1985 in images taken by Arturo Gomez of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and it was initially identified as a planetary nebula around a very old, dying star. But if it was a planetary nebula, it was an odd one, with a dark band stretching across the glowing centre.
>
> It wasn't until 2008 that astronomers suggested Gomez's Hamburger might actually be the opposite; not an old star 6,500 light-years away, but a very young one, just 900 light-years away, around four times the mass of the Sun. So young, in fact, that it is still surrounded by a protoplanetary disc of dust and gas.
>
> In this model, the bright regions - the burger's buns - are starlight reflecting off dust around it. The burger's filling is that protoplanetary disc, seen edge-on.

**Question:** Who named [Gomez's Hamburger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomez%27s_Hamburger) (IRAS 18059-3211) as "Gomez's Hamburger"?

---

[![Gomez's Hamburger, NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA ](https://i.sstatic.net/JJqqt.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/JJqqt.jpg)

> Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA

**Tags:** stellar-evolution, naming, proto-planetary-disk
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Namings can have quite interesting origins, cf. [Whose name is Fleming 1 nebula bearing?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/36011/7982)  
> **username_1**: It looks as much like a hamburger as the [hamburger menu button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button)  
> **username_0**: @Barmar and as much as [this looks like a meatball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_landing_system)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-08-07. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

The discovery team at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

From [New Scientist: 23 Jan 1986](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rYIJJP7audkC&pg=PA65&dq=Gomez%27s%20Hamburger&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZs-zQrJ7yAhWkQkEAHWMlBO8Q6AEwB3oECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=Gomez%27s%20Hamburger&f=false)

> If British Observers are feeling a pinch, they could always take a lead from their colleagues at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Astronomers there may be well on the way to getting funding from a fast-food chain having just named a celestial object "Gomez's Big Mac".
>
> Sponsership hasn't come into it yet, we gather. The observatory says they chose the name solely because the object, a star with a ring of dust, is "hamburger shaped".

Two things to note in this source from 1986. Firstly "Big Mac" not hamburger. The earliest sources from '86 all use "Big Mac". Secondly, it is identified as a star with a dust ring, not a planetary nebula.

It may be forgotten who exactly first said "hamburger" in the context of this object. But it is clear that it was named thus from the start, and not given this nickname later.


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