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Jul 26, 2023 · So we ended up with these Roman names after the Roman gods — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. If we keep on going outward, we have three more things that historically have been called planets. You have Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. These are Greek or Roman names.
- How do planets and their moons get their names? - NASA
The official names of planets and their moons are governed...
- How do planets and their moons get their names? - NASA
The brightest planets in the sky have been named from ancient times. The scientific names are taken from the names given by the Romans: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Our own planet is usually named in English as Earth, or the equivalent in the language being spoken (for instance, two astronomers speaking French would call it la ...
Jul 26, 2023 · With the exception of Earth, the planets in our solar system were named after Greek or Roman gods. Today, the job of naming things in space falls to the International Astronomical Union...
- 2 min
- 44.5K
- NASA
The official names of planets and their moons are governed by an organization called the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU was established in 1919. Its mission is "to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation".
- 6 min
- Mercury. Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System. Mercury is very difficult to view with the naked eye, due to its proximity to the sun, but it can be viewed indirectly during its transits.
- Venus. Venus is the second planet in the solar system and our closest celestial neighbor. Besides the moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky.
- Earth. Our humble abode, the blue marble, is the largest terrestrial planet and the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. Surprisingly, we disobeyed the Roman-Greek tradition when it came to naming our own planet.
- Mars. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second-smallest planet in the solar system. Like Venus, Mars is also readily visible to the naked eye.
All of the planets, except for Earth, were named after Greek and Roman gods and godesses. Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury were given their names thousands of years ago. The other planets were not discovered until much later, after telescopes were invented.
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Jan 20, 2024 · The story of the names of the planets begins several thousand years ago, when the ancient Chaldean astronomers noticed that some stars, unlike others, move across the sky, which can be observed during several nights of observation. Classical Greek and Latin sources frequently use the term Chaldeans for Mesopotamian astronomers.
