With New Horizons successfully accomplishing a flyby on Pluto, all eyes are on the dwarf planet now, more than ever. Why is it even named such in the first place? Apparently, it was all the doing of an 11-year-old girl.
Back in 1930 when Clyde Tombaugh first produced images of the planet, it only went by the name "Planet X." Astronomers and the public alike talked about the planet, including Falconer Madan, who read the newspaper to Venetia Burney, his granddaughter. On March 14, 1930, he specifically read an article about Planet X's discovery, wondering afterwards what the planet would be officially called.
"Why not call it Pluto?" asked the little girl.
Pluto is the god of the underworld in Greek mythology. He is also referred to as Hades.
Burney recalled in a later interview that she got the inspiration for the name "Pluto" through her familiarity with Roman and Greek legends, which she read about in children's books. She knew nothing about the solar system and was simply thinking of a name that had not yet been used. As to how her suggestion actually reached astronomers at the Lowell Observatory where the planet was first spotted, she said it was all her grandfather.
He suggested in a letter to Herbert Hall Turner, his friend, that Planet X be called Pluto. An Oxford astronomer, Turner coincidentally was attending a Royal Astronomical Society meeting. He felt the 11-year-old's suggestion was apt, so he sent his colleagues at the observatory a message saying: "Naming new planet, please consider PLUTO, suggested by small girl Venetia Burney for dark and gloomy planet."
Naming a planet was a big deal so astronomers heavily discussed suggestions to figure out what to best officially call Planet X. Aside from Pluto, some of the suggestions included Persephone, Zeus, Minerva and Kronos. Despite being a favorite, Minerva was removed from the running because it was already used to name an asteroid.
In May 1930, Lowell Observatory astronomers finally voted on a name, and Pluto was chosen to replace Planet X.
In honor of the little girl that gave Pluto its name, New Horizons was fitted with Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter, a camera developed by University of Colorado students to capture dust particle measurements as the spacecraft flies into space, helping scientists study the environment beyond Neptune.
Burney passed away in 2009. She was 90 years old.
Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Flickr
