Jacob Aron, reporter
First contact any time now (Image: CBS via Getty)
Nearly half a million votes are in, and Vulcan and Cerberus are the most popular names for the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto - currently known as P4 and P5.
The team that discovered the two moons asked the public to vote on 12 potential names, including Cerberus. But they also accepted write-in votes as long as they were taken from Greek and Roman mythology and related to Hades and the underworld - keeping to the theme used to name Pluto's three other moons.
"We have been overwhelmed by the world's response," says Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the discovery of P4 and P5.
Despite not being on the original list of 12, Vulcan is most popular with nearly 175,000 votes. The name was originally suggested by Star Trek actor William Shatner, in honour of a planet from the show. It just about fits the criteria: in Roman mythology, Vulcan, the god of lava and smoke, is Pluto's nephew. "Any connection to the Star Trek TV series is purely coincidental," Showalter said at the time
Cerberus got the second slot with just under 100,000 votes, while the next favourite, Styx, trailed with fewer than 88,000. Showalter and the team will now present the names to the International Astronomical Union, which has final approval. If the IAU decides to reject either name, it won't be the first time it has gone against public opinion on Pluto - there were mass demonstrations following the union's decision to demote it to dwarf-planet status in 2006.
"Please be patient now," says Showalter. "It could take one to two months for the final names of P4 and P5 to be selected and approved. Stay tuned."
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