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Smaug to go into space

NASA‘s New Horizons proposals will use fictional characters and locations, including from Tolkien’s Middle-earth, to name features of Pluto and its moons next week.

Launched in 2006, the New Horizons space probe has been flying through the solar system on a mission to explore dwarf-planet Pluto, its moons and the surrounding area. Having already explored Jupiter, it is now approaching Pluto and is due to fly past Pluto and its moons Charon, Hydra, Nix, Kerberos and Styx on 14th July.

Anticipating the discovery of many new geological features, the New Horizons team have, with the help of the Our Pluto project, drawn up a list of proposed names following over 60,000 online votes. Under the rules, the person/organisation who discovered the features has the right to name them, but they have to be approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). They are seeking “pre-approval” for what they hope to discover in a few days’ time.

In their proposed themes for Pluto, they have “Underworld beings” which includes Morgoth and Balrog as suggestions; for Charon a theme is “Fictional Origins and Destinations” which includes Shire and Mordor; and for Hydra the theme is “Legendary Serpents and Dragons” which includes Smaug.

It’s not just Tolkien that features, though. Other notable suggestions include: Niflheim in the “Underworlds and Underworld Locales” theme; Heracles in the “Travelers to the Underworld”; Kirk, Spock, Skywalker, Dorothy and Alice in “Fictional Explorers and Travelers”; Gallifrey, Krypton, Hoth, Tatooine and Vulcan in “Fictional Origins and Destinations”; Tardis, Argo, Dutchman, and Galactica in “Fictional Vessels”; and Toto in “Dogs from Literature, History and Mythology”.

HT: NBC News

About the Author: The Tolkien Society
The Tolkien Society is an educational charity and worldwide membership organisation devoted to promoting research into, and educating the public in, the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Society organises regular events (such as Oxonmoot and Tolkien Reading Day), publishes regular books and journal (such as Amon Hen and Mallorn), and is working towards a permanent home to Tolkien in the UK.