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New Moons of Pluto Named Kerberos and Styx; Popular Choice 'Vulcan' Snubbed

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-have-defied-the-will-of-the-internet dept.

MarkWhittington writes "The International Astronomical Union announced on July 2, 2013 its picks to name the two recently discovered moons of Pluto, hitherto known as P4 and P5. They will now be known as Kerberos and Styx respectively. In Greek and Roman mythology Kerberos is the name of the mythological three headed hound that guards the entrance to the underworld. Styx is the name of the river that separated the underworld from the real world. The names, picked in a popular contest, were actually the second and third choices. The first choice was Vulcan, which was officially touted because it was the name of a Roman god who was a relative of Pluto's and was associated with fire and smoke. The real reason that Vulcan shot up to the top of the list was that was a choice by Star Trek fans in a campaign instigated by actor William Shatner, who played Captain James Kirk in the original series." Shatner is sad and may lead a revolt. Phil Plait wins the award for best headline for this news.

5 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Shred of dignity by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We demand to have a moon called Usagi, just to piss off people like you.

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  2. Re:Shred of dignity by White+Flame · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kerberos and Styx were the equivalent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters thousands of years ago.

  3. Some contest by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. I agree with the name choices because they make sense...

    However...

    2. What is the point of having a contest if you're not going to pick the winner?

    They should not hold a naming contest if they're just going to pick the names they want anyway.

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  4. Good on them by Dasher42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Vulcan is Hephaistos, the god of the forge. He has fiery, volcanic imagery, which is why when some astronomers suspected that there might be a planet closer to the Sun than Mercury, Vulcan was the proposed name. Really, Trek fans, a tiny icy moon of Pluto's was not the place to name after Vulcan, no matter how much we like Spock.

  5. does shatner ever tire? by nimbius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Vulcan was rejected because it shared its name with a hypothetical planet inside the orbit of Mercury, and also because, as god of the forge, Vulcan had little connection to the icy moons of Pluto.

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