Pluto surface feature named 'Balrog'

[Mister Underhill]

It's clear where the New Horizons mission scientists come down on the Balrog wing question -- those things stretch from Ala to Vucub Camé.

[Inziladun]

Ha, I saw that! It's nice to have Tolkien's work immortalized in such a way. If they name something after Tauriel though, I'm going to blow it up!

[Pitchwife]

Considering that Pluto's features tend to be named after gods and demons of the Underworld, that's perfectly likely.

Do they have a Morgoth and Sauron already?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Do they have a Morgoth and Sauron already?

Not positive about that, but they did "see" the Eye of Sauron in space at one point. Also, they named a lizard (I think?) after something Tolkien, but I forget what.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Not positive about that, but they did "see" the Eye of Sauron in space at one point. Also, they named a lizard (I think?) after something Tolkien, but I forget what.

Well, there are
two different genera named after Ancalagon the Black, but oddly, neither is a lizard.

[Lotrelf]

There was an article last year about how many scientific agencies (is that the proper word?) have been named after the things in Tolkien's world. Mountains on Titan are named after his characters. In fact one of the things (I don't remember exactly what) has been named after Sauron (having a full form and "Sauron" being its acronym). I must say Science becomes far more interesting with it!

[Galadriel55]

Ok, not exactly within this thread topic, and I know there was a better thread for this somewhere in N&N, but it's buried deep and I forgot what it's called...

Anyways, here is an excerpt from my biology textbook:

As an aside in closing, it is interesting that many of the historical experiments
revealing the circularity of bacterial and plasmid genomes coincided with the
publication and popularization of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Consequently,
a review of bacterial genetics at that time led off with the following
quotation from the trilogy:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Oh yeah!

[Axbolt]

I read in a magazine last month that a dark area on Pluto has been named after Mordor

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Axbolt

I read in a magazine last month that a dark area on Pluto has been named after Mordor

Cool!

I realize that there are comparatively few discoveries named after things from Tolkien's books, and that most of these are too minor to be cared about by the majority of the population. But it just makes me so happy that somewhere out there sits a nerd who makes a life-not-changing discovery and decides, "Heck, let's name it after Tolkien!". Way to go!

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Cool!

I realize that there are comparatively few discoveries named after things from Tolkien's books, and that most of these are too minor to be cared about by the majority of the population. But it just makes me so happy that somewhere out there sits a nerd who makes a life-not-changing discovery and decides, "Heck, let's name it after Tolkien!". Way to go!

I'm naming the pothole down the street "Tauriel".