Why is it called Suzaku?
Satellites from the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science usually
have two names: a pre-launch name and a post-launch name. The pre-launch
name is a project name. They have a series of astronomy satellites,
with project names Astro-A, Astro-B, Astro-C etc. Astro-E is the fifth
satellite (E) in the ASTRO series. Our satellite was called
Astro-E2 because it is the re-flight of the original
fifth satellite, Astro-E.
The post-launch name is a proper name, chosen shortly after launch.
In the past, Japanese X-ray astronomy satellites have had names like
Hakucho (swan, or the constellation Cygnus, in Japanese),
Tenma (heavenly horse, or the constellation Pegasus), and
Ginga (galaxy, or the Milky Way Galaxy).
On July 10, 2005, the day of the successful launch, the new
name for Astro-E2 was announced: Suzaku.
This name is written in Japanese on the right. "Suzaku"
means "vermilion bird of the south," originally from
Chinese mythology. Just as Hakucho (swan, or "white bird"
in Japanese) was the beginning of X-ray astronomy in Japan,
we all hope that Suzaku will be a new beginning - after
the false start of ASTRO-E - for Japanese X-ray astronomy.
