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Astronomy and Space articles
by Martin George of the Launceston Planetarium
16 March 2013
What's in a Name?
Because of a poll conducted by Mark Showalter, leader of the team that used the Hubble Space
Telescope to discover the fourth and fifth moons of the dwarf planet Pluto, the world's attention
has recently been drawn to the way in which astronomical bodies are named.
Ultimately, the decision falls to the International Astronomical Union - the world's body of
professional astronomers. The main part of the procedure is for the name of a body within the
Solar System to be approved by the IAU Working Group for Solar System Nomenclature, prior to
formal acceptance by the IAU.
The debate caught the attention of the media mainly because the name that may now be adopted
for the fourth moon - Vulcan - was suggested by William Shatner, of Star Trek fame. Shatner
played Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, and his first officer, Mr Spock,
played by Leonard Nimoy, was from the fictitious planet called Vulcan.
It is certainly accepted that the discoverer can suggest a name for IAU approval, and setting up a
poll was an interesting way of doing it.
It is true that the name Vulcan does fit in one important way: in Roman mythology, Vulcan was
the nephew of Pluto (who was the God of the Underworld).
However, Vulcan was also the name given by the French Astronomer Urbain Le Verrier to a
hypothetical planet that was once thought to exist orbiting the Sun within the orbit of Mercury.
The name was attached to this unseen planet (now known not to exist) because Vulcan was the
God of Fire (and volcanoes). Indeed, a planet so close to the Sun as this would be amazingly hot.
Of course, the mythological connection to Pluto may well be seen as being reason enough to adopt
the 'Vulcan' suggestion. However, there is another fact to consider, and that is that the fourth
moon of Pluto was the first major Pluto discovery after the passing of Venetia Burney. In 1930, as
an eleven-year-old girl, Burney was having breakfast with her grandfather in England when they
noticed the story, in the London Times, of the discovery of a new planet. Burney, who had been
studying mythology, said 'Why not call it Pluto?'
The suggestion was put forward and eventually the name stuck. And although Burney has had an
instrument on board the New Horizons mission to Pluto named after her, in addition to an asteroid
(asteroid number 6235 is called Burney), I feel that it would be fitting at some point to ensure that
a feature of the Pluto system itself should be called Venetia.
Although I am not part of the particular IAU Working Group, I have commented to my colleagues
there that although it would have made me very happy to see the moon named Venetia (I feel that I
Astronomy and Space articles
by Martin George of the Launceston Planetarium
16 March 2013
shall lose out to Shatner's suggestion), it would be very fitting to have a major feature on Pluto be
given her name.
The New Horizons Mission will be flying past Pluto in July 2015, and it is hoped that we shall
obtain some excellent images of the dwarf planet, showing some major features such as mountains
and craters. Let's see what happens when it comes around to names, and that the 'girl who named
Pluto' is commemorated somehow in that distant, icy system.
Venetia Burney (whose married name was
Phair) at home in England in 2008.
PHOTO: MARTIN GEORGE
Article by Martin George, Launceston Planetarium, QVMAG.
Reproduced with permission of the Mercury newspaper.