Names and faces

— Star Trek fans, rejoice. An online vote to name Pluto’s two newest moons is over. And No. 1 is Vulcan, a name suggested by actor William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series. Vulcan snared nearly 200,000 of the more than 450,000 votes cast during the two-week contest, which ended Monday. In second place with nearly 100,000 votes was Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld. Vulcan was the Roman god of lava and smoke, and the nephew of Pluto. Vulcan was also the home planet of the pointy-eared humanoids in Star Trek. Think Mr. Spock. “174,062 votes and Vulcan came out on top of the voting for the naming of Pluto’s moons. Thank you to all who voted!” Shatner said in a Tweet once the tally was complete. Vulcan and Cerberus are not shoo-ins, though, for the two tiny moons discovered over the past two years with the Hubble Space Telescope. The contest was conducted by SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., the research base for the primary moon hunter. The 10 astronomers who made the discoveries will take the voting results into account, as they come up with what they consider to be the two best names. The International Astronomical Union has the final say, and it could be another month or two before an edict is forthcoming. Now known as P4 and P5, the moons are 15 to 20 miles across. The leader of the teams that discovered the mini-moons, Mark Showalter said Monday he is leaning toward the popular vote. But Showalter pointed out that asteroids thought to orbit close to the sun are called vulcanoids, and there could be some confusion if a moon of Pluto were to be named Vulcan. As for Cerberus, an asteroid already bears that name, so maybe the Greek version, Kerberos, would suffice, said Showalter, a senior research scientist at SETI’s Carl Sagan Center.

Lindsay Lohan will be playing herself, but as a therapy patient, in an episode of the FX sitcom Anger Management. Producer Lionsgate Television said Lohan will develop a romantic relationship during her sessions with the therapist character played by series star Charlie Sheen. Lionsgate said the episode will air in April. Sheen and Lohan also recently worked together in Scary Movie 5, which is set to debut the same month.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 02/26/2013

Upcoming Events