Summary of Planet and Satellite Names
Mercury
Named Mercurius by the Romans because it appears to move so swiftly.
Venus
Roman name for the goddess of love. This planet was considered to be
the brightest and most beautiful planet or star in the heavens. Other
civilizations have named it for their god or goddess of love/war.
Earth
The name Earth comes from the Indo-European base 'er,'which produced
the Germanic noun 'ertho,' and ultimately German 'erde,' Dutch 'aarde,'
Scandinavian 'jord,' and English 'earth.' Related forms include Greek
'eraze,' meaning 'on the ground,' and Welsh 'erw,' meaning 'a piece of
land.'
Moon
Every civilization has had a name for the satellite of Earth that is
known, in English, as the Moon. The Moon is known as Luna in Italian,
Latin, and Spanish, as Lune in French, as Mond in German, and as Selene
in Greek.
Mars
Named by the Romans for their god of war because of its red, bloodlike
color. Other civilizations also named this planet from this attribute;
for example, the Egyptians named it "Her Desher," meaning "the red one."
Phobos
and Deimos
Named for the horses that drew Mars' chariot; also called an
"attendants" or "sons" of Mars, according to chapter 15, line 119 of
Homer's "Iliad." These words mean "fear" and "flight." They
were discovered in 1877 by A. Hall.
Jupiter
The largest and most massive of the planets was named Zeus by the
Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans; he was the most important deity in
both pantheons.
Jovian
Moon System
Satellites in the Jovian system are named
for Zeus/Jupiter's lovers and descendants. Names of outer satellites
with a prograde orbit generally end with the letter "a" (although an
"o" ending has been reserved for some unusual cases), and names of
satellites with a retrograde orbit end with an "e."
Saturn
Roman name for the Greek Cronos, father of Zeus/Jupiter. Other
civilizations have given different names to Saturn, which is the
farthest planet from Earth that can be observed by the naked human eye.
Most of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek
mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn.
Saturnian
Moon System
Satellites in the saturnian system are
named for Greco-Roman titans, descendants of the titans,
the Roman god of the beginning, and giants from Greco-Roman and other
mythologies. Gallic, Inuit and Norse names identify three different
orbit inclination groups, where inclinations are measured with respect
to the ecliptic, not Saturn's equator or orbit. Retrograde satellites
(those with an inclination of 90 to 180 degrees) are named for Norse
giants (except for Phoebe, which was discovered long ago and is the
largest). Prograde satellites with an orbit inclination of around 36
degrees
are named for Gallic giants, and prograde satellites with an
inclination of around 48 degrees are
named for Inuit giants.
Uranus
Several astronomers, including Flamsteed and Le Monnier, had observed
Uranus earlier but had recorded it as a fixed star. Herschel tried
unsuccessfully to name his discovery "Georgian Sidus" after George III;
the planet was named by Johann Bode in 1781 for the father of Saturn.
Uranian
Moon System
Satellites in the uranian system are named
for characters from Shakespeare's plays and from Pope's
"Rape of the Lock."
Neptune
Neptune was "predicted" by John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier who,
independently, were able to account for the irregularities in the
motion of Uranus by correctly predicting the orbital elements of a
trans- Uranian body. Using the predicted parameters of Le Verrier
(Adams never published his predictions), Johann Galle observed the
planet in 1846. Galle wanted to name the planet for Le Verrier, but
that was not acceptable to the international astronomical community.
Instead, this planet is named for the Roman god of the sea.
Neptunian
Moon System
Satellites in the neptunian system are
named for characters from Greek or Roman mythology associated with
Neptune or Poseidon or the oceans. Irregular satellites are named for
the Nereids, the daughters of Nereus and Doris, and the attendants of
Neptune.
Pluto
In 1930, Pluto was discovered at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ
during a systematic search for a trans-Neptune planet predicted by
Percival Lowell and William H. Pickering. Named after the Greek god of
the underworld who was able to render himself invisible.
Charon (P1, 1978 P1)
Named after the mythological boatman who ferried souls across the river
Styx to Pluto for judgement.
Candidate
moon of Pluto: S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2
Star Names
Before telescopes, stars were given names usually derived from
Latin, Greek or Arabic words.
Examples include Vega, Regulus and Polaris.
Assigning names to thousands of stars would get cumbersome and only
the brightest stars were given names.
The first systematic attempt at naming stars is the Beyer system.
In the Beyer system, the brightest stars
in a constellation are each given lower case greek letters roughly in
order of
brightness.
The proper name for such stars is the greek letter followed by the
genitive form of the constellation name
(for example, Alpha Canis Majoris is a bright star in Canis
Major,
Beta Geminorus is a bright star in Gemini and so on).
The greek alphabet is as follows:
The Beyer designation has some odd features
- While the “alpha” star is often the brightest star in a
constellation, this is not always the case.
- The other letters are often assigned in order which does not
match the order of brightness.
- There are 24 greek letters, so you might think that each
constellation has 24 stars with greek letters,
this is true for some constellations. However others have less
than 24 (for example Lynx has only one, Alpha).
- Others have more than 24; numbers are used to distinguish between
stars that use the same letter.
For example the six stars that make up the shield in the constellation
Orion
have the names Pi One, Pi Two, Pi Three, Pi
Four, Pi Five and Pi Six.
An alternative to the Beyer system are Flamsteed numbers.
The brightest stars in each constellation (anywhere from ten or so to
over a hundred) are each assigned numbers
starting in the west going east. Stars with Flamsteed numbers may
also have Beyer designations.
The proper name for such stars is the number followed by the genitive
form of the constellation name.
For example the star 66 Geminorum is also known as Alpha
Geminorum.