Public asked to help label features on Pluto

When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto in July, people of the public will be able to name different features of the planet that they see in the images portrayed by the craft.  Since this will be the first time Pluto has ever been mapped, the New Horizons team is asking for your help in coming up with names.  The public will be able to suggest names for certain features by going to http://ourpluto.seti.org and everyone will vote to decide which names are the best.  “Pluto belongs to everyone,” said Mark Showalter from the SETI Institute. “So we want everyone to be involved in making the map of this distant world.”  Currently, the images we have of Pluto are distant and lack much detail, but after the flyby, we will learn much more about the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon.  “The difference is that last time we only needed two names, whereas now we could need more than a hundred,” Showalter notes. “We are eager to gather recommendations from people all over the world.” The website also includes an extremely simple ballot to allow young children to participate.

Citation: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/03/public-asked-to-help-name-features-on-pluto