In 2020, it was reported that NASA would no longer using "offensive" nicknames for celestial bodies.
Under the new rules, the “Eskimo Nebula,” discovered in 1787 by William Hershel, will only be referred to as NGC 2392.
The so-called “Siamese Twins Galaxy” will likewise be known only as NGC 4567 and NGC 4568.
NASA also renamed Ultima Thule to Arrokoth because of Nazi connections.
Other than that, during the early days of space exploration when photographic resolutions were poor some features were misnamed, such as the Soviet Mountains on the far side of the Moon. They turned out to be a bright linear streak that was a ray from the Giordano Bruno Crater.
With the flight of the Luna 3 probe in 1959, the Soviet Union was the first nation to image the far side of the Moon. To the surprise of most, large regions of maria (so prominent on the near side) were mostly missing from the far side. Although the first images were of very low quality, the Soviets couldn’t resist the urge to name newly discovered features for a variety of Russian heroes and place names, such as Tsiolkovsky and the Sea of Moscow. Some new “features” were misidentified because of the low resolution – the name “Soviet Mountains” (no longer used) was given to a bright linear streak across the far side globe (a feature that turned out to be a long ray from the fresh crater Giordano Bruno and not a mountain range).
Additionally, since most celestial objects tend to have either an Arabic, Latin or Greek name, other cultures have been recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Some 86 new names have been adopted, taken from Australian Aboriginal, Chinese, Coptic, Hindu, Mayan, Polynesian, and South African cultures.
Edit 20-June 2021
In 2002, The International Astronomy Union unanimously voted to drop the designation of crater Eppinger from the Moon.
An inquiry opened with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Planetary Nomenclature section regarding the suitability of having a crater on the Moon named to honor Dr. Hans Eppinger, Jr., an accused Nazi war criminal, has resulted in the removal of the designation.
Upon the removal of the Eppinger designation, the IAU’s Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature reinstated the crater’s original listing as Euclides D
On some older maps of the Moon, Craters,
Kästner B, R, and S are called Defoe, Shekhov, and Cellini on some older maps, but these names were not approved by the IAU.
In 2020, it was reported the IAU has also recommended that the Lenard and Stark craters on the far side of the Moon should be quickly renamed. The two craters are named after Nazi scientists. The pair were largely responsible for the idea that there was an “Aryan physics”. They also actively embraced Nazi policies during the 1930s.
