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From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: StarDate: March 14 Naming Pluto
Message-ID: <1106@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Mar-85 02:00:29 EST
Article-I.D.: utastro.1106
Posted: Thu Mar 14 02:00:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Mar-85 04:19:32 EST
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 37


The planet Pluto was named by an eleven-year-old girl.   We'll tell you
more -- in a moment.

March 14  Naming Pluto

We don't know who originally named the five planets we can see with
just the naked eye.  They were named long ago for the mythological
Roman gods Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  After telescopes
were invented, two more planets were found and -- following tradition
-- the planets Uranus and Neptune were also named for Roman gods.  Then
a ninth planet for the solar system was discovered on photographic
plates at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.  It's existence was
reported to the world on this date in 1930.

A schoolgirl in Oxford, England, was eating breakfast with her
grandfather when he told her about the discovery of the new planet.
When the grandfather wondered aloud what this planet should be named,
eleven-year-old Venetia Burney suggested, "It might be called Pluto."
Now, Venetia's grandfather was used to having a relative christen
celestial objects -- his older brother had suggested the names of
Deimos and Phobos for the two tiny moons of Mars -- and he knew that
timing was very important.  He contacted an astronomer at Oxford
University -- who in turn telegraphed the suggestion to Lowell
Observatory on March 15, 1930.  Other people also proposed Pluto -- but
Venetia was credited as the first when the planet was officially
named.

The Roman god Pluto was the brother of Jupiter and Neptune -- and ruled
the dark and gloomy underworld of the dead.  It seemed indeed an
appropriate name for the planet that travels farthest from the sun --
in the dim outer reaches of the solar system.


Script by Diana Hadley.

(c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin