On St Swithin's Day the Cluster II quartet were christened. Cluster, you may remember from "Weather Eye" that day, is a constellation of four satellites destined to fly in close tetrahedral, or triangular pyramid, formation to study what has come to be called "space weather".
The satellites will focus on the "solar wind", a stream of electrically-charged particles continually surging towards us from the sun. The "solar wind" is potentially dangerous to life on Earth, but fortunately the planet's magnetic field creates a giant, protective bubble which shields us from its worst effects.
Cluster II will add greatly to our knowledge of exactly how it does it, particularly since identical instruments observing simultaneously from all four satellites will provide a unique three-dimensional view of the ever-changing cosmic elements.
The first pair were successfully launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), using a Russian Soyuz rocket, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, just north of the Caspian Sea, on July 15th. The other two will join the team on August 9th.
But as you may also recall, there was a competition. It was organised by ESA to suggest permanent names for the spacecraft and attracted 5,000 entries from all over Europe. Fourteen "national bests" were chosen - the most imaginative suggestion in the view of an international panel of judges to be submitted from each country - and the overall winner was announced just before the launch.
The entries were imaginative. The winning Danish entry, for example, was Aquilinus, Australis, Orientalis and Occidentalis or the North, South, East and West winds of ancient Rome.
The French winner chose a musical theme, Adagio, Allegro, Largo and Vivace, as indeed did his counterpart from Sweden with Flute, Violin, Cello and Piano. Ireland's winning entry, submitted by Grainne Duncan from Coolock in Dublin, was Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasa and Samhain, the four festivals of ancient Ireland associated with the seasons.
The overall winner was chosen by Prof Roger-Maurice Bonnet, ESA Director of Science, and he declared it to be the entry submitted by Raymond Cotton from Bristol, England. Raymond had suggested the names of four dances - Rumba, Salsa, Samba and Tango - for the individual satellites of the Cluster quartet.
Announcing the final choice, Prof Bonnet said of the winning entry that it was "catchy, easy to remember, and reflects the way the four satellites will dance in formation around the heavens during their mission."
"We thought of these," he added, "because my wife and I like ballroom dancing, and they seemed to fit with the movement of the satellites through space."
Hard luck, Grainne - but anyway, I think your names were better!