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! MBB— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) February 25, 2013
Earlier this month, SETI launched a contest to name two newly-discovered moons surrounding former planet Pluto -- tentatively called P4 and P5 -- on the website PlutoRocks.com. None other than William Shatner got in on the action, suggesting Vulcan as a possible name for one of the new rocks, and wouldn't you know, it went ahead and dominated the competition, netting over 174,000 votes.
Shatner campaigned on Twitter (MBB!) asking fans to ensure a victory for the Trek homage. Even Leonard Nimoy, former resident of the aforementioned Vulcan rallied the troops.
"Vulcan" is the logical choice. LLAP— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 14, 2013
Vulcan cleaned up, while Cerebrus came in second, and fans of overwrought prog-rock and/or scary rivers pushed the name Styx into third.
According to Pluto Rocks it might take up to 2 months for the new names to be approved, so hold off on those "I Heart Vulcan (the moon)" tattoos as of right now.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute)
[Source: GMA]
