We all know that William Shatner is king of the Star Trek Universe, but it looks like the Shat-Man has some pull in the real universe as well.
After weeks of online voting to name Pluto's two tiny moon (P4 and P5), the ballot casting took a turn when Shatner added his voice to the voting process by suggesting that one of the moons should be named Vulcan. Fans immediately assumed that Shatner was giving props to his alien first officer Mr. Spock, who comes from the fictional planet Vulcan.
Soon after the original Captain Kirk weighed in, votes stared pouring in in favor of the name Vulcan, and as of 12 PM last night, the polls closed with Vulcan coming out on top. The name Cerberus came in a close second.
In addition to Vulcan being the name of Spock's home planet, it's also the name of the Roman god of fire and nephew of the Roman god Pluto. Cerberus was, of course, the name of the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the underworld.
The names will be added to a list of recommended names and given to the International Astronomical Union who will make the final choices.
The two tiny moons were discovered in 2012 by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope. Pluto has a larger moon called Charon, which was discovered in 1978.
Comments