The Czech Republic will get to name a new planet, but it can’t be Havel or Jagr

For the first time in history, the Czech public has been invited to participate in a poll to name a new planet.

The naming rights for the planet have been granted to the Czech Republic by the IAU (International Astronomical Union), which has long served as the authority in the naming of planets and extraterrestrial objects.

A gaseous planet slightly larger than Jupiter, XO-5b is part of a solar system that revolves around a sun-like star which currently bears the designation XO-5.

A jury will then nominate final candidates from the submissions, and conduct a final vote amongst members of the public. The IAU will announce the new name in December.

The naming has some rules, however. The planet cannot bear the name of a political or religious figure, so Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Václav Havel, and other famous figures in the history of the Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia are out.

The name also cannot come from a living person, so Karel Gott, Jaromír Jágr, and other living Czech celebrities are out. Additionally, the name cannot come from someone who has died less than 100 years ago, which also eliminates authors Franz Kafka and Karel Čapek (who would have been the perfect candidate) and other famous figures from the 20th century.

But those restrictions don’t seem to rule out who we predict may be the winner of the vote, if allowed by the panel of judges: fictional genius Jára Cimrman, who was also voted the “Greatest Czech” in a popular poll earlier this century before being disqualified for being, well, fictional.