Infrequently, scientists are given the opportunity to come up with names for new natural satellites discovered by revolving around planets inside our solar system. Therefore, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided to vote on the selection of the best name for the two relatively recently discovered moons of Pluto, which until now were called P5 and P4. The main criterion for selection was the requirement that the new names be mythological in nature.
As part of a public vote, the first line in the ranking of the best names was taken by the name “Volcano”: the name of the planet, where did Spock come from, first assistant captain Kirk from the well-known Star Trek universe. Despite the victory, this name was disqualified, as it has nothing to do with our (human) mythology. Instead, it was decided to choose the names that took second and third place, respectively.
Thus, two new moons: P4, discovered in July 2011, and P5, which was discovered in July 2012, received the official names “Styx” and “Kerber”. The Styx is a mythological river that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead, and Kerber, in turn, is a three-headed dog, the guardian of the underground kingdom of Hades.
Both moons were discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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