The moons of Pluto n 'have not called Star Trek - Le Figaro

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Star Trek fans collapsed. Their very active campaign to give the name of Vulcan, the planet of Spock in one of the satellites of Pluto failed. Members of the very serious International Astronomical Union (IAU) in charge of the celestial nomenclature should not be fans of the famous series of science fiction. They preferred to stay true to the theme of the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology. The fourth and fifth moon of Pluto (called before P4 and P5) that were discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011 and 2012 will now bear the name of Kerberos (Cerberus) and Styx (one of the rivers of Hades).

two new satellites of Pluto are actually large stones: Kerberos to a diameter of 13-34 km and Styx has an irregular shape that is between 10 and 25 km long. Their discoverer, Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in California had appealed to the public to choose two names he then proposed to the IAU. Thanks to a strong mobilization of Star Trek fans, the name Vulcan (Vulcan in French) had come very far ahead of proposals (170,000 votes), followed by Kerberos and Styx. If Vulcan is the god of fire in Roman mythology, it is especially the home planet of Mr. Spock, the famous pointy-eared science officer. Despite the official support of William Shatner, the first actor of Captain Kirk, commander of the starship Enterprise and friend of Spock, for the name of Vulcan, the astronomical union did not want.

The official argument was invoked by the IAU in his statement is that Vulcan was reserved for a hypothetical planet that is found between the Sun and Mercury, or a family of asteroids present in the same region. On the other hand, the god of fire and volcanoes “is not within the theme of the underworld” is used for the other moons of Pluto, the name of the god of the underworld in Roman mythology.

This is not the first time that the International Astronomical Union, which is headquartered in Paris, seriously upset the American public. In 2006, the United States had cried foul when the IAU considered that Pluto, discovered in 1930 by an American, do not deserve the status of “the ninth planet in the solar system” but was a “dwarf planet “among others. The diameter of Pluto is only 2,300 km, which is smaller than many moons in the solar system.