[AZ-Observing] Re: Happy Pluto Day....

Jack Jones wrote:
>There are still those displeased with the naming of Pluto's moon.
>They tried to rally those wanting a name change, but no one
>wanted to be associated with some Goofy movement.
Nyuck, nyuck.

James Christy, Charon's discoverer, gave a talk at a Coconino Astronomical 
Society meeting last year and explained how he came to propose Charon as the 
name for Pluto's binary. It just so happened that Christy made the discovery 
just 
days before he and his wife were to move into a new house. That weekend, he 
was having trouble sleeping. His mind was working overtime trying to come up 
with a suitable name to propose for Pluto's moon. He got out of bed and went 
through several moving boxes to find his dictionary. The book found, Christy 
flipped to the C's and was pleased to find that Charon is the boatman ferrying 
souls across the river Styx to Pluto's realm.

Christy was pleased to find this connection with Greek mythology because 
Charon was a name he'd actually been considering. Now, linguists would point 
out 
that the Ch- in Charon is pronounced like a hard K- in the Greek. However, 
James Christy pronounces the Ch- like a softer Sh- sound. And that's just fine 
with his wife, Charlene, who's nickname is Char.

Regards,

Bill in Flagstaff


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