Nebula Nebula - November 2016 | Page 6

NEBULA
VOLUME 44 I ssue 2
PAGE 6
PLUTO – HOW IT GOT ITS NAME
by Gerry Leake
Pluto and its moons have re-
ceived considerable media atten-
tion during the last few months
since the flyby of the New Hori-
zons spacecraft last July. Although
it was relegated to the status of a
dwarf planet by the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) in
2006, Pluto has continued to en-
gage the fascination of the public.
Indeed many professional astron-
omers (and amateur) still consider
that it should never have been de-
moted in the first place.
As we all know Pluto was dis-
covered by Clyde Tombaugh in
1930 at the Lowell Observatory in
the USA. Initially it was referred
to simply as Planet X. So how did
it get its name?
I came across an article in the
March 2016 issue of the American
magazine Astronomy which out-
lined the history surrounding the
naming of the (now) dwarf planet.
The following information has
been taken from that article.
As can be readily appreciated,
after the announcement of its dis-
Leeds AS member, Prof. H.H.
Turner, 1929 (picture from the
Society’s Scrapbook)
PLUTO -- July 14, 2015 from New Horizons when the s pacecraft was 280,000
miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 2.2 kilometers)
© NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest
Research Institute
covery there were numerous sug-
gestions as to what its name should
be. “One of the suggestions came
from Venetia Burney, a schoolgirl
from England who enjoyed learn-
ing about mythological characters.
On the morning of March 14 while
Venetia ate breakfast, her grandfa-
ther read to her a newspaper ac-
count of the planet's recent discov-
ery. After thinking about the news
and reflecting on her knowledge of
mythology, she said Pluto, the god
of the distant cold underworld, was
an appropriate name for this dark
and gloomy place. Her grandfather
sent her suggestion, unknown to
Venetia, to the British astronomer
H. H. Turner, who in turn shared it
with Lowell Observatory.
“This note would be one of hun-
dreds received by the Observatory
but stands alone in importance , as
indicated in the last paragraph of
the May 1 Lowell Observatory
Circular that served as Pluto's
christening announcement to plan-
et Earth. Lowell Director Vesto
Melvin (V.M.) Slipher wrote [my
italics], It seems time now that this
body should be given a name of its
own. …Pluto seems very appro-
priate and we are proposing to the
American Astronomical Society
and to the Royal Astronomical So-
ciety that this name be given it. As
far as we know Pluto was first
suggested by Miss Venetia Burney,
aged 11, of Oxford, England.”
I should, perhaps, add that Vene-
tia was not the only person to sug-
gest the name, Pluto, but she ap-
pears to have been the first
Venetia Burney, aged 11, c.1929
(image: Wikimedia)