# Pluto has two newly discoverd moons!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842 "2005-11-01T02:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/1 "2005-11-01T02:36:36Z")
[Pluto has three moons?](http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/31/pluto.moons.reut/index.html) Wow! All I can say is, Wow! Do you realize how infinitesimally small they would be from the Earth? Yikes! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/2 "2005-11-01T02:48:37Z")
[New Horizons rocket damaged by Wilma.](http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8239&feedId=space_rss20) > [@](#): > > The rocket that will carry NASA’s New Horizons Pluto probe into space suffered damage as hurricane Wilma blew through Florida last week. However, mission managers do not think the incident was serious enough to delay the planned January launch. I think that this announcement makes the New Horizons mission more important than ever. Who knows what else we’ll find out. (Though it would sucketh majorly if the probe smacked into an orbiting body around Pluto that we knew nothing about.) ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/3 "2005-11-01T03:09:28Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > (Though it would sucketh majorly if the probe smacked into an orbiting body around Pluto that we knew nothing about.) I have to say, I’d laugh my ass off at that. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/4 "2005-11-01T04:39:40Z")
Yeah, then we’d know about it for sure. Imagine the press conference: “Well, we lost another probe. But we ran it into something we didn’t know was there.” ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/5 "2005-11-01T04:51:15Z")
So now we need two death themed names to go along with Pluto and Charon. Any suggestions? If it was up to me I’d go Dracula and The Mummy ('tis the season), but then there’s a reason that these thing aren’t up to me. They’ll probably go for some hoity-toity greek mythological reference. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/6 "2005-11-01T04:53:37Z")
As long as Pluto gets to stay a planet, I’ll be happy. Maybe more moons will help. Can we name one Cerberus? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/7 "2005-11-01T04:55:24Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > So now we need two death themed names to go along with Pluto and Charon. Any suggestions? > > If it was up to me I’d go Dracula and The Mummy ('tis the season), but then there’s a reason that these thing aren’t up to me. They’ll probably go for some hoity-toity greek mythological reference. There’s Thanatos and Hypnos (Death and Sleep). I don’t know if there’s a Roman version of their names. ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/8 "2005-11-01T05:01:35Z")
Cerberus would be a perfect name for a moon of Pluto. Perhaps Percival might be a good name for the second. I know that Lowell was the inspiration for the naming but naming a moon afer him would make it more formal. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/9 "2005-11-01T05:03:14Z")
I think Cerberus and Persephone would be perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/10 "2005-11-01T05:11:58Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I think Cerberus and Persephone would be perfect. I like Persephone. Cereberus seems a little off, since so far as I know all the moons/planets are named after huminoids, while Cereberus was more inhuman. Of course there are now three moons, so we could name them Cerbrus head #1, head #2 and head #3. Be easier to remember, anyway 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/11 "2005-11-01T05:22:12Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > I like Persephone. Cereberus seems a little off, since so far as I know all the moons/planets are named after huminoids, while Cereberus was more inhuman. > > Of course there are now three moons, so we could name them Cerbrus head #1, head #2 and head #3. Be easier to remember, anyway 🙂 Eh. Iapetus was a centaur. Amalthea was a goat or cow (stories conflict). ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/12 "2005-11-01T05:32:38Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > [New Horizons rocket damaged by Wilma.](http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8239&feedId=space_rss20) I think that this announcement makes the New Horizons mission more important than ever. Who knows what else we’ll find out. (Though it would sucketh majorly if the probe smacked into an orbiting body around Pluto that we knew nothing about.) Well, at least it would beat “Oops, we forgot to convert from feet to meters. Our bad”. I’ve long thought that if we’re gonna lose space probes it would at least be better to lose them to actual spatial phenomena, instead of stupid human errors or 50 cent electronic gizmos shorting out. IIRC there was some talk of routing one of the _Pioneer_ probes through a “gap” in Saturn’s rings that the _Voyagers_ showed was actually occupied by an undetected ring system. It would have been a rather sudden end to the mission, and not as cool as “our probe was apparently lost when it encountered a spatio-temporal anomaly of unknown type and origin–a tear, if you will, in the very fabric of reality”; but an honorable death for a space probe for all of that, like an intrepid caravel running aground on an uncharted reef. > [@Wile E](#): > > There’s Thanatos and Hypnos (Death and Sleep). I don’t know if there’s a Roman version of their names. [Mors](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mors.html) and [Somnus](http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/somnus.html). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/13 "2005-11-01T07:14:21Z")
Persephone would be good. But I’d go with Dante rather than Cerberus. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/14 "2005-11-01T07:15:47Z")
But Mickey, Goofy, and Donald are right out. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/15 "2005-11-01T11:31:42Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > So now we need two death themed names to go along with Pluto and Charon. Any suggestions? > > If it was up to me I’d go Dracula and The Mummy ('tis the season), but then there’s a reason that these thing aren’t up to me. They’ll probably go for some hoity-toity greek mythological reference. Well, they’re calling the “tenth planet” that was recently discovered Xena, so the whole mythological reference is pretty much out the window. I think that the name Xenu would work. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/16 "2005-11-01T12:41:57Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Well, they’re calling the “tenth planet” that was recently discovered Xena, so the whole mythological reference is pretty much out the window. > > I think that the name Xenu would work. Xena is the unofficial name, and it seems to be a bit of a joke. You can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll come up with something else soon. As for Pluto’s new moons, I like Cerebus and Persephone. Actually, change Charon’s name to Persephone (since she’s supposed to be Hades’s/Pluto’s wife), and name the two smaller moons Charon and Cerebus. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/17 "2005-11-01T12:44:50Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Well, they’re calling the “tenth planet” that was recently discovered Xena, so the whole mythological reference is pretty much out the window. > > I think that the name Xenu would work. I think Xena is only a nickname at this point. The International Astronomical Association or whoever decides it will probably give it an obscure mythological name, like they did with Sedna. Personally, I’m thinking we should name 'em Dante and Virgil. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/18 "2005-11-01T12:45:53Z")
Wow, simulpost. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/19 "2005-11-01T12:51:21Z")
When I clicked on this thread, I thought for sure \*\*Tuckerfan \*\* would be the OPer. It seemed highly **Tucker** ish. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842/20 "2005-11-01T12:51:56Z")
What about Dante and Randall? They certainly _seem_ to think they’re in hell. “Just because the orbit you doesn’t mean they like you.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pluto-has-two-newly-discoverd-moons/328842.md?page=2)