What it’s a name? Quite a lot, actually.
Consider the fact that now that we have highly detailed pictures of Pluto and Charon – all thanks to the historic Plut flyby undertaken by the New Horizons mission – we must go about naming all of those craters and chasms and dark spots on them.
Some first class nerd names have been proposed for a whole lot of the Pluto and Charon topography. They include references to everything from Star Trek to Star Wars, from H.P. Lovecraft’s terrifying Cthulu to J.R.R. Tolkien’s equally terrifying Balrog. Joss Whedon and the Alien franchise are in there too. And Doctor Who. Of course.
Plenty of people might scoff at the idea and point out that there is something inherently silly and undignified about such a naming effort.
But consider the fact how naming in astronomy truly works. Lay aside topography for a second, and look at the names we are forced to give other worlds. When a possible “Earth 2.0” was discovered recently by scientists, it was given the prosaic name of Kepler 452b. An fascinating recent study of the effect of cosmic wind on a galaxy had to contend with the fact that said galaxy is named NGC 4921.
There is nothing wrong with classifying celestial bodies in this fashion, certainly we would all get very confused if we didn’t introduce numbers, but when it comes to specific locales, having recognizable names really helps to have those locales, well… recognized.
And it’s not as if there aren’t plenty more nerd culture classics to choose from. Our own suggestions include:
Blade Runner
Halo
Elder Scrolls (Yeah, we know it has absolutely nothing to do with space. Neither do Tolkien’s books. But what Elder Scrolls and Tolkien’s books both represent are different worlds)
Terminator (A crater named T-800. You know you want that. Don’t deny)
Battlestar Galactica
Dune
The Fifth Element
But that’s just us. You’re free to suggest others.
