Pluto moons get mythical new names

BBC ^ | 7/2/13

[SoFloFreeper]

The recently discovered fourth and fifth moons of Pluto now have official names: Kerberos and Styx.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU), charged with making official name designations, stipulates in its rules that names derive from mythology.

The names - referring to a three-headed dog and a river separating the living from the dead, ranked second and third in an international public vote.

The winning submission, Vulcan, was vetoed by the IAU.

The two moons, formerly known simply as P4 and P5, were only discovered in July 2011 and July 2012, respectively.

[SoFloFreeper]

The one people wanted, Vulcan, was nixed by the professionals.....

[staytrue]

my guess is vulcan is being reserved for something more special than a small moon of pluto.

It is probably being reserved for the first nearly earth like planet they find.

[agere_contra]

The professionals were right: Kerberus and Styx go with Pluto. Vulcan doesn’t.

[Jonah Hex]

my guess is vulcan is being reserved for something more special than a small moon of pluto.

That would be logical.

[cripplecreek]

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

New Horizons

[Vaquero]

Newton’s theory of universal
gravitation has had wonderful
success in explaining the
motions of the planets in our
Solar System, even leading to the discovery of Neptune. However, given the known planets in our Solar System, Newton’s theory does not fully explain the precession of Mercury’s orbit.
Some astronomers theorize that another planet, inside the orbit of Mercury, could account for the odd behavior of Mercury. This position is bolstered by the success in finding Neptune using the perturbations of Uranus’ orbit to calculate an orbit of the undiscovered planet. The proposed planet between the Sun and Mercury has been named Vulcan but has yet to be observe

[Dr. Sivana]

my guess is vulcan is being reserved for something more special than a small moon of pluto.

Vulcan is the Roman God of Fire. Too much irony to use him on a cold little marble.

[Dr. Sivana]

my guess is vulcan is being reserved for something more special than a small moon of pluto.

Vulcan is the Roman God of Fire. Too much irony to use him on a cold little marble.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SoFloFreeper.

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[Flick Lives]

Some astronomers theorize that another planet, inside the orbit of Mercury, could account for the odd behavior of Mercury. This position is bolstered by the success in finding Neptune using the perturbations of Uranus’ orbit to calculate an orbit of the undiscovered planet. The proposed planet between the Sun and Mercury has been named Vulcan but has yet to be observe

What SPF sunblock should I bring if I visit Vulcan?

[JRios1968]

The probe has already passed Uranus?

[Vaquero]

If we were to rename a celestial body Vulcan, it should be Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system.

Oh and sunblock 40 zillion might not be protection enough.

[Yo-Yo]

What's so mythical about an 80s pop rock band?

[Rodamala]

Too much time on your hands?

[Verginius Rufus]

For a while there was a theory that there was an undiscovered planet closer to the sun than Mercury, and it was given the name Vulcan. Of course it was never found--it may have been Einstein's work that caused astronomers to decide that the undiscovered planet was not needed to explain the orbital movements of Mercury.

It's not fair that little Pluto has five moons when we just have one.

[castlebrew]

I thought Pluto was downgraded from "planet" status...