Space Inspired Dog Names

Space is something of infinite mystery to us, and for this reason, we fantasize and create stories of space and space exploration as cartoons, comedies, dramas, and in all forms of literary works.  In 1959, Indianapolis born author, Kurt Vonnegut, wrote his second novel titled, The Sirens of Titan.  The Titan Vonnegut referred to is a moon of Saturn and on that moon existed Kazak, the Hound of Space.  Kazak was a poor and unfortunate English Mastiff, the largest of all the dog breeds.  Kazak was unfortunate because he had not chosen his fate to live on Titan and but he was able to materialize on Earth on a regular cycle every 59 days when the Earth's orbit crossed what Vonnegut called a Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum phenomenon.  Kazak plays a large role in the novel, which deals mostly with the lack of agency and free will among man and the direction of man's purpose as the grand design of an alien power.  

A less heavy and certainly more light-hearted space dog is Astro, the Jetson's Great Dane.  He is one of the most recognizable cartoon dogs with a space inspired name and second only to Disney's Pluto.  Many people believe that the planet Pluto, discovered by Hubble in 1930, was named after the famous Disney dog, who debuted the same year.  However, fans have the history backward.  Pluto first appeared as an unnamed bloodhound in The Chain Gang, but in 1931, the iconic yellowish orange dog was officially given the name Pluto after the newly discovered planet, which also marked the year of Pluto's birth.        

While names like Kazak and Pluto are 20th Century born icons, the name Sirius has long been associated with space dogs.  Sirius is the brightest star in the sky that is visible from Earth.  It is part of the constellation known as Canis Major, and the bright blue and white star is often referred to as the Dog Star.  Sirius, the Dog Star is approximately twice the size of our Sun, burns much hotter, and is our closest neighboring star at 8.6 light years away from Earth.  When viewed through a telescope, stargazers will also see a companion star known as The Pup.  However, The Pup is too faint to be seen by the naked eye.  Sirius has fascinated us for millennia and as part of the Canis Major constellation helps tell the story of the human and canine bond that has existed for over 30,000 years as Canis Major is close to the hunter of the night's sky, the constellation known as Orion.