The name Arrokoth was chosen by the New Horizons team to represent the Powhatan people indigenous to the Tidewater region of Virginia and Maryland in the eastern United States, and formally announced with the permission of the Powhatan nation’s Pamunkey Indian Tribe elders.
Focus On: (486958) Arrokoth Read Post »
Name origin: Make Make is considered the supreme divinity of Easter Island and the most important mythological being in the Rapanui worldview. Make Make was the creator of all things, the first man and the first woman, and he had the power to reward the good people and punish the bad ones. The most important ritual in honour of Make Make was the bird man (Tangata Manu) competition in which prominent contestants sent helpers to obtain the first manutara (sooty tern) egg.
Focus On: (136472) Makemake Read Post »
Name origin: Hawai’ian goddess of fertility and childbirth. Mother of many important deities (including Pele, Hi’iaka and Namaka) and herself among the first worshipped on the Hawai’ian islands. She repeatedly transforms herself from an old woman to a young girl, and returns to her homeland periodically to give birth to further generations of humans.
Focus On: (136108) Haumea Read Post »
Name origin: Greek son of Zeus and Europa. Because of his just and upright life, after death Rhadamanthus was appointed a judge of the dead and the ruler of Elysium, a blissfully beautiful area of the Underworld where those favoured by the gods spent their life after death.
Focus On: (38083) Rhadamanthus Read Post »
Name origin: Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean. Varuna was also the god of law in the underwater world, and may have been replaced eventually by Indra. He is said to have unlimited knowledge.
Focus On: (20000) Varuna Read Post »
