• Question: how did you come up with the names of the planets

    Asked by anon-276911 on 21 Jan 2021.
    • Photo: Liam Taylor

      Liam Taylor answered on 21 Jan 2021:

      I believe most of them were named after Ancient Roman and Greek gods and goddesses! The two I know off the top of my head are that Venus is named after the Roman god of beauty, while Mars is named after the Roman god of War.

    • Photo: Michael Nolan

      Michael Nolan answered on 22 Jan 2021:

      The planets (apart from Earth) are named after mythological Gods and Goddesses. Mercury was the Greek Messenger of the God and was rather swift, so a planet that orbits swiftly around the sun is well named! Jupiter was the head God of the Romans and that’s good for the largest planet in the solar system.
      Thats all very well when you have a small number of planets but doesnt really work for Asteroids for example or for the vast number of exoplanets being found; those are named after their parent star. So not as interesting, but easier to analyse

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