Looks like Pluto will have a moon named 'Vulcan'
The votes have been tallied and the results are in from the SETI Institute鈥檚听: 鈥淰ulcan鈥� and 鈥淐erberus鈥� have come out on top for names for Pluto鈥檚 most recently-discovered moons, P4 and P5.
After 450,324 votes cast over the past two weeks, Vulcan is the clear winner with a landslide 174,062 votes鈥� due in no small part to a little聽聽I鈥檓 sure.
In other words鈥�听测别蝉,听
During a Google+ Hangout today,聽聽senior scientist Mark Showalter 鈥� who discovered the moons and opened up the poll 鈥� talked with SETI astronomer Franck Marchis and MSNBC鈥檚 Alan Boyle about the voting results. Showalter admitted that he wasn鈥檛 quite sure how well the whole internet poll thing would work out, but he鈥檚 pleased with the results.
鈥淚 had no idea what to expect,鈥� said Showalter. 鈥淎s we all know the internet can be an unruly place鈥� but by and large this process has gone very smoothly. I feel the results are fair.鈥�
As far as having a name from the Star Trek universe be used for an actual astronomical object?
鈥淰ulcan works,鈥� Showalter said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got a family tie to the whole story. Pluto and Zeus were brothers, and Vulcan is a son of Pluto.鈥�
And what can you say when even聽?
The other winning name, Cerberus, is currently used for an asteroid. So because the IAU typically tries to avoid confusion with two objects sharing the same exact name, Showalter said he will use the Greek version of the spelling: Kerberos.
The next step will be to submit these names to the International Astronomical Union for official approval, a process that could take 1鈥�2 months.
(Although who knows鈥� maybe Bill can help move that process along as well?)
Read more about the names on the Pluto Rocks ballot聽
Jason Major is a graphic artist from聽Rhode Island聽now living and working in聽Dallas, Texas. He writes about astronomy and space exploration on his blog聽Lights In The Dark, on Universe Today and also on聽Discovery聽News.
This story originally appeared in聽.
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