NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is going to pass by a mysterious object in the Kuiper Belt on January 1, 2019. To celebrate this event, the aerospace agency is inviting the public to help find and name this soon to be discovered new distant world.
The Distant World Will Get Either a New Name or a Nickname
Now, both specialists and the interested public have a chance to learn just as much about another distant world. So far, this is mostly just a big question mark. Technically, we do not even know for sure if this is one object or two. Each one of them might be approximately 12 miles (19 km) wide.
Alan Stern, the principal investigator of the project and a member of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, says that he is excited about this continuing phase of the spacecraft’s mission. He is also waiting for the public’s input on the new world’s nickname. Stern also adds that he and his team are looking for something that captures the awe of discovery and exploration that represented by this historic event.
Showalter says that the naming process is open to everyone. Submissions for naming this distant world are public and can be accessed on a specially created page. NASA has a few nominees already, but it is still taking suggestions.