The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature ( that has the handy acronym WGPSN ) has officially sanction the naming of 14 feature on the surface of Pluto . These are the first features to be officially named on the distant dwarf satellite . The names honor IE , uranologist , science enthusiasts , and mythological figures related to the underworld .
“ We ’re very excited to O.K. names recognizing people of significance to Pluto and the following of geographic expedition as well as the mythology of the Hell . These names highlight the importance of force to the frontiers of find , ” WGPSN chair Rita Schulz allege in astatement . “ We apprise the donation of the oecumenical public in the form of their naming suggestions and the New Horizons squad for proposing these name to us . ”
Three of the features honor people who had a capital impingement on our work of Pluto . Tombaugh Regio recognizes stargazer Clyde Tombaugh , who discovered Pluto , while Burney Crater is consecrate to Venetia Burney , the fair sex who actually suggest the name Pluto to Tombaugh . Elliot Crater is for James Elliot , an MIT researcher whose work was important for the first signal detection of Pluto ’s atmosphere .
Five feature film are dedicated to mythological underworlds . There is Tartarus Dorsa , a ridge appoint after the deep , darkest pit of Hades . Djanggawul Fossae is a internet of depressions named after three patrimonial beingness in indigenous Australian mythology . Adlivun Cavus is a thick clinical depression named after the underworld in Inuit mythology . Sleipnir Fossa is a canyon named after the eight - legged horse that pack Odin to Hel . at last , there ’s Virgil Fossae , a large crevice agnize Virgil , one of the greatest Romance poets and Dante ’s fictional guide through hell on earth and purgatory in theDivine Comedy .
Three space deputation have also been remembered on the Earth’s surface of the major planet . The heart of Pluto is now formally Sputnik Planitia after Sputnik 1 , the first space satellite . There ’s Voyager Terra , dedicated to the Voyager probe , and Hayabusa Terra in honour of the Nipponese spacecraft that return to Earth the first asteroid sample .
The remaining three features are dedicated to explorer and a geographer . Al - Idrisi Montes is a lot range in honour of Ash - Sharif al - Idrisi , a noted Arab mapmaker , geographer , and author ofThe Pleasure of Him Who Longs to Cross the Horizons . Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes are commit to Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary , the Indian / Nepali Sherpa and New Zealand mountaineer who were the first to progress to the summit of Mount Everest and inhabit .
More name for Pluto and Charon ’s features have been submitted to the WGPSN . The group is part of the International Astronomical Union , which has made sure the name adhere to theextensive inclination of rulesfor naming astrophysical objects and feature .
