Universe Puzzle

I’m trying something new, here in Universe Today, a puzzle.

This is, I hope, a puzzle that cannot be answered by five minutes spent googling, a puzzle that requires you to cudgel your brains a bit, and do some lateral thinking.

There are no prizes for the first correct answer – the judge’s decision (mine!) will be final – but I do hope that you’ll have lots of fun.

What do David, Nicholas, and Ferdinand have in common?

Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back later at this same post to find the answer. To make this puzzle fun for everyone, please don’t include links or extensive explanations with your answer, until after the answer has been given. Good luck!

Answer has now been posted below:

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David Malin (Malin I), Nicholas Mayall (Mayall’s object, or Arp 148), and Ferdinand Magellan (the Magellanic Clouds) all have galaxies named after them!

I should have said that David, Nicholas, and Ferdinand have a deep association with the topics we regularly cover here in Universe Today – astronomy, space, telescopes, etc.

Congratulations to IVAN3MAN, who guessed correctly first, and to all those who came up with equally good answers – all must have prizes.

Stay tuned for another Universe Puzzle, next week (HINT: I will pose a quite different kind of puzzle then).