{"id":3144,"date":"2013-07-02T18:52:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T18:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2013-07-02T18:52:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-02T18:52:46","slug":"iau-sets-its-names-for-new-pluto-moons-vulcan-not-accepted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3144","title":{"rendered":"IAU sets its names for new Pluto moons &#8211; Vulcan not accepted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iau.org\/\" target=\"_d\">International Astronomical Union (IAU<\/a>), which likes to present itself as the decider of all things astronomical, issued a press release on names for the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moons_of_Pluto\" target=\"_d\">Moons of Pluto<\/a> today:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iau.org\/public_press\/news\/detail\/iau1303\/\" target=\"_d\">Names for New Pluto Moons Accepted by the IAU After Public Vote &#8211;\u00a0 IAU<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Showalter\u00a0 of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seti.org\" target=\"_blank\">SETI Institute<\/a> led the\u00a0 team that spotted the new Pluto-ian moons with the\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope. He<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>decided to call for a public vote to suggest names for the two objects. To be consistent with the names of the other Pluto satellites, the names had to be picked from classical mythology, in particular with reference to the underworld \u2014 the realm where the souls of the deceased go in the afterlife. The contest concluded with the proposed names Vulcan, Cerberus and Styx ranking first, second and third respectively. Showalter submitted Vulcan and Cerberus to the IAU where the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.iau.org\/science\/scientific_bodies\/working_groups\/98\/\">WGPSN<\/a>)\u00a0and the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.iau.org\/science\/scientific_bodies\/working_groups\/97\/\">WGSBN<\/a>)\u00a0discussed the names for approval.<\/p>\n<p>However, the name Vulcan had already been used for a hypothetical planet between Mercury and the Sun. Although this planet was found not to exist, the term \u201cvulcanoid\u201d remains attached to any asteroid existing inside the orbit of Mercury, and the name Vulcan could not be accepted for one of Pluto\u2019s satellites (also, Vulcan does not fit into the underworld mythological scheme). Instead the third most popular name was chosen \u2014 Styx, the name of the goddess who ruled over the underworld river, also called the Styx.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here is a SETI Institute video with a discussion of the name selection:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8YP0pDitZKs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The International Astronomical Union (IAU), which likes to present itself as the decider of all things astronomical, issued a press release on names for the Moons of Pluto today:\u00a0 Names for New Pluto Moons Accepted by the IAU After Public Vote &#8211;\u00a0 IAU. Mark Showalter\u00a0 of the SETI Institute led the\u00a0 team that spotted the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3144\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">IAU sets its names for new Pluto moons &#8211; Vulcan not accepted<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-space-participation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-OI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10218,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10218","url_meta":{"origin":3144,"position":0},"title":"Public invited to suggest names for features on Pluto and Charon","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0spacecraft gets closer each day to Pluto and the\u00a0fly-by on July 14th. 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It has now gotten the most votes:\u00a0 Vulcan tops vote to name Pluto moons - BBC.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space participation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space participation","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16093,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=16093","url_meta":{"origin":3144,"position":3},"title":"Video: Alan Stern and David Grinspoon talk about the &#8220;Epic First Mission to Pluto&#8221;","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Alan Stern (Southwest Research Inst) and\u00a0Dr. David Grinspoon (Planetary Science Inst) recently gave a public lecture on the New Horizon\u00a0 mission to Pluto and beyond:\u00a0\u00a0 In July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto, revealing its surface to our view for the first time. In this program, Drs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=am2&o=1&a=1250098963","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":560,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=560","url_meta":{"origin":3144,"position":4},"title":"Name the moons of Pluto","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Vote for names for the moons of Pluto at Pluto Rocks! If you don't like the choices given, you can suggest better names at Write-In Ballot - Pluto Rocks! The contest deadline is February 25th. More about the contest at Help scientists name Pluto's moons - Cosmic Log. ************************** Shop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contests and Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Contests and Games","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":757,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=757","url_meta":{"origin":3144,"position":5},"title":"Video: Discovering the new moons of Pluto","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The SETI Institute has just posted this video in their lecture series:\u00a0 Discovery of the New Moons of Pluto - Mark Showalter (SETI Talks) - YouTube Dr. Showalter recently discovered the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto. 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