Sharaf Regio (formerly Ala Macula) is the smallest of the "Brass Knuckles", a series of equatorial dark regions on Pluto. It was initially informally named Ala Macula after Ala "earth", the chthonic and most important deity of the Igbo people. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially approved the name Sharaf Regio after Shafika GilâÂÂmievna Sharaf, a Soviet astronomer who developed an analytical theory for Pluto's motion.