AS NASA's New Horizons spacecraft plays tourist and fires off dozens of high-resolution shots of Pluto, it's time for the space exploration agency to come clean.
Was Pluto named after Mickey Mouse's pet dog or was it the other way around? Both characters emerged about the same time, with Pluto the planet (as it was then) making a slightly earlier appearance, but we can assume Pluto the pup was already in the animator's imagination and word may have leaked out to Nasa's predecessor (Nasa was established in 1958).
With records lost and no one prepared to admit the obvious, I'm inclined to believe - and will publicly state - the distant sphere was named after the quirky dog that defied Disney's habit of humanising animals.
You've probably noticed the yellow/orange creature doesn't speak English, nor wear clothes, and insists on walking (running etc) on all fours as nature and the artist intended.
To suggest the ethnocentric Americans of the 1930s knew about the Roman god of the Underworld and would therefore name a planet after him is stretching belief, with all evidence therefore pointing to a cartoon - a beloved cartoon - as inspiration for the name.
