The people of Earth have spoken: One of Pluto’s moons should be named Vulcan

Back on February 10, 2013, the SETI Institute announced it would open up voting on naming Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons—which, so far, are called simply P4 and P5. SETI cautioned the winning entry would just be a suggestion. The new names had to be officially approved by the International Astronomical Union.

In keeping with the tradition of naming celestial bodies after figures from Roman and Greek mythology, the SETI Institute proposed a few of its own. The organization asked that names be related to Hades, the Latin name for Pluto.

But within days, William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk) himself put forward “Vulcan” as an option. While the Star Trek connection might seem like a self-serving choice, SETI’s own Mark Showalter noted that “Vulcan is the Roman god of lava and smoke, and the nephew of Pluto.”