One of Pluto's moons may be named Vulcan after thousands of Star Trek fans voted in a public poll to name the moon after the home planet of one of the science fiction show's iconic characters.
The "Pluto Rocks Poll" was conducted by the SETI Institute, a California-based nonprofit dedicated to space research, to get the public's input on what to name Pluto's P4 and P5 moons. Vulcan won the poll with 174,062 votes, many of them coming from Star Trek fans and Twitter followers who were swayed by the show's lead cast member William Shatner, The Register reports.
"174,062 votes and Vulcan came out on top of the voting for the naming of Pluto's moons. Thank you to all who voted! MBB," Shatner tweeted to his 1.3 million followers after polls closed.
Vulcan is the name of the Roman mythical god of fire, but most people and particularly Star Trek fans recognize it as the home planet of Spock, an extraterrestrial humanoid who served aboard the show's legendary starship Enterprise.
"Vulcan" is the logical choice. LLAP," actor Leonard Nimoy, who starred as Spock in the late 1960s television series, tweetted.
In order for the moon to be officially named Vulcan, the selection now must be approved by the International Astronomical Union, an organization whose mission is to "promote and safeguard the science of astronomy."
Traditionally, the names of planets and their moons must have some type of relationship, in this case Vulcan seems an odd name for a cold and distant plant like Pluto. But in Greek mythology, Pluto is the god of the underworld and the uncle of Vulcan.
However, the biggest hurdle is that another celestial body has already taken the name. A planet once believed to be orbiting the Sun closer than Mercury was named Vulcan by astronomers.
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