Astronomers Ignore People's Pick for Pluto Moon Name

Democracy wins again as the International Astronomical Union decides to not do what people want.

The surface of Pluto might look something like this.
Then again, it might totally not. 

People want one of Pluto's moons to be called Vulcan. Tons of Star Trek fans, led by Willian Shatner,  overwhelmingly won an online vote to name two of Pluto's newly discovered moons.

Instead, the IAU is going with the second and third most popular names: "Styx" and "Kerberos" will be Pluto's fourth and fifth moons.

"The IAU gave serious consideration to this name, which happens to be shared by the Roman god of volcanoes," says the poll's sponsor, SETI. "However, because that name has already been used in astronomy, and because the Roman god is not closely associated with Pluto, this proposal was rejected." 

The IAU had specified that Pluto's moons had to be named after underworld figures from classical mythology. This just sounds like a stupid demand a stubborn kid makes about naming his dog. "No mom, we have to choose a name of an underworld figure from classical mythology! Duh mom!"

Kerberos is the Greek equivalent of Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the underworld's entrance. It was 70,000 votes behind Vulcan.
Styx is, of course, the river that separates the living from the dead. It was 82,000 votes behind Vulcan.

Shatner is not happy with the decision. "Star Trek fans have had it rough. First JJ blows up Vulcan and now SETI finds a loophole to deny it from coming back!" he wrote on Twitter, "Who'd ever thought I'd be betrayed by geeks and nerds?"

As a consolation, a representative from SETI says it may name a crater after Captain Kirk. We'll have to see if that makes the nerds and geeks happy.