In 2018, the International Astronomical Union named a mountain range on Pluto, Baret Montes, after Jeanne Baret.
In 2018, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially named a mountain range on the dwarf planet Pluto after Jeanne Baret, commemorating her historic status as the first woman known to have sailed around the world. This celestial honor, part of a broader effort following NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, placed Baret's name permanently among the features mapped on the distant world's icy surface.
The IAU's naming conventions for Pluto's surface features have often drawn from history's great explorers and pioneers, and Baret's inclusion reflects her growing recognition as a trailblazing figure in the history of global exploration, alongside other historically significant navigators and scientists honored in similar ways. The choice to commemorate her on a planetary body traversed by humanity's furthest-reaching spacecraft carries a poetic resonance with her own boundary-defying journey across the entirety of Earth's oceans.
This honor is historically significant as it represents one of the most prominent modern commemorations of Baret's legacy, extending her recognition beyond the fields of botany and maritime history into the realm of astronomical nomenclature. It cements her story for future generations, ensuring that her name, once nearly lost to history and overshadowed by the men she served alongside, is now literally written across the solar system as a symbol of hidden women's contributions to exploration and science finally being brought to light.