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Belton Regio
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Belton Regio
Belton Regio (formerly Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio) is a prominent surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto. It is an elongated dark region along Pluto's equator, 2,990 km (1,860 mi) long and one of the darkest features on its surface.
After its discovery in 2015, the feature was provisionally named after the fictional deity Cthulhu from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, as it was most popular name in its category in an online poll conducted earlier that year. In 2023, an official name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union honoring astronomer Michael J. Belton.
The feature was first identified in the initial image, first published on 8 July 2015, of Pluto returned after the New Horizons probe recovered from an anomaly that temporarily sent it into safe mode. NASA initially referred to it as "the Whale" in reference to its overall shape.
Surface features of Pluto were initially given provisional, informal names that are selected from a list generated from an online poll conducted earlier in 2015, along the theme of "creatures related to underworld mythologies." "Cthulhu" was the most popular name in this category of the poll, and by 14 July 2015, it was used by the New Horizons team to refer to the feature. It was named after the fictional deity from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, which initially appeared in Lovecraft's 1928 short story "The Call of Cthulhu", as a malevolent entity hibernating within an underwater city in the South Pacific. In many of Lovecraft's stories, particularly The Whisperer in Darkness, the transneptunian planet Yuggoth is implied to be the same as Pluto, which was discovered around the time Lovecraft was writing the stories.
The name received positive reaction from the press and social media, with a Chicago Tribune editorial supporting the name and its democratic origin. It was reported that the name Cthulhu may be submitted to the IAU as an official name. Cthulhu Macula was initially called a regio, but was renamed as the largest of the maculae that span Pluto's equator.
On 22 September 2023, the name "Belton Regio" was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for the feature, after astronomer Michael J. Belton.
The macula lies west of the Sputnik Planitia region of Tombaugh Regio, also known as Pluto's "heart", and to the east of Meng-P'o, the easternmost of Pluto's "Brass Knuckles".
The dark color of the region is speculated to be the result of a "tar" made of complex hydrocarbons called tholins covering the surface, which form from methane and nitrogen in the atmosphere interacting with ultraviolet light and cosmic rays. Tholins have been observed on other planetary bodies, such as Iapetus, Umbriel, and in the atmosphere of Titan, although the irregular and disconnected nature of the dark spots on Pluto has not yet been explained.
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Belton Regio
Belton Regio (formerly Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio) is a prominent surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto. It is an elongated dark region along Pluto's equator, 2,990 km (1,860 mi) long and one of the darkest features on its surface.
After its discovery in 2015, the feature was provisionally named after the fictional deity Cthulhu from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, as it was most popular name in its category in an online poll conducted earlier that year. In 2023, an official name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union honoring astronomer Michael J. Belton.
The feature was first identified in the initial image, first published on 8 July 2015, of Pluto returned after the New Horizons probe recovered from an anomaly that temporarily sent it into safe mode. NASA initially referred to it as "the Whale" in reference to its overall shape.
Surface features of Pluto were initially given provisional, informal names that are selected from a list generated from an online poll conducted earlier in 2015, along the theme of "creatures related to underworld mythologies." "Cthulhu" was the most popular name in this category of the poll, and by 14 July 2015, it was used by the New Horizons team to refer to the feature. It was named after the fictional deity from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, which initially appeared in Lovecraft's 1928 short story "The Call of Cthulhu", as a malevolent entity hibernating within an underwater city in the South Pacific. In many of Lovecraft's stories, particularly The Whisperer in Darkness, the transneptunian planet Yuggoth is implied to be the same as Pluto, which was discovered around the time Lovecraft was writing the stories.
The name received positive reaction from the press and social media, with a Chicago Tribune editorial supporting the name and its democratic origin. It was reported that the name Cthulhu may be submitted to the IAU as an official name. Cthulhu Macula was initially called a regio, but was renamed as the largest of the maculae that span Pluto's equator.
On 22 September 2023, the name "Belton Regio" was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for the feature, after astronomer Michael J. Belton.
The macula lies west of the Sputnik Planitia region of Tombaugh Regio, also known as Pluto's "heart", and to the east of Meng-P'o, the easternmost of Pluto's "Brass Knuckles".
The dark color of the region is speculated to be the result of a "tar" made of complex hydrocarbons called tholins covering the surface, which form from methane and nitrogen in the atmosphere interacting with ultraviolet light and cosmic rays. Tholins have been observed on other planetary bodies, such as Iapetus, Umbriel, and in the atmosphere of Titan, although the irregular and disconnected nature of the dark spots on Pluto has not yet been explained.
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