Date: February 27, 2012
Title: Naming the Cosmos, How Planetary Features Get Their Names
Podcasters: Tony Rice
Organization: –
Links: http://www.twitter.com/rtphokie
Description: You probably know where many of the planets get their names, but did you know where craters, valleys and other features on these planets and their moons get their names?
Bio: Tony Rice is a volunteer in the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador Program. He visits classrooms and speaks at local science museums on space exploration topics. He is also a contributor to WRAL on spaceflight and astronomy topics. You can follow him on twitter @rtphokie.
Sponsor: This episode of the “365 Days of Astronomy” podcast is sponsored by — NO ONE. We still need sponsors for many days in 2012, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
You may know that our solar system’s planets are named mostly for Roman and Greek gods. But there’s a lot out there to name so to help keep everything straight, some themes have emerged. It’s all governed by the International Astronomical Union to help ensure consistency.
Mercury is the Roman god of commerce and travel. It’s short year causes it to travel quickly across the sky. Mountains on Mercury are named for the word “hot” in various languages. Valleys are named for radio telescope facilities here on Earth such as
Goldstone and Arecibo.
Features on Venus, itself named for the Roman goddess of beauty, are named for other goddesses. Low plains are named for mythological heroines, high plains for goddesses of prosperity.
Earth comes from an Old English word for ground morphed into “erthe” by the time Middle English was all the rage. Earth’s moon has craters named for scientists and explorers (including astronauts). Mountains on the moon received names of well known mountains on Earth. Most other features are named for nearby craters.
Mars red color probably led to it’s naming after the Roman god of war. Craters there are named for scientists known for their study of the red planet. Valleys get their name from the word Mars or Star in various languages. Moons of Mars are named for sons of the god Mars.
As we move out to the featureless gas giants, their moons get all the interesting names. Massive Jupiter was named for the King of the Gods in Roman mythology. The moons themselves, after over 100 years of debate have settled on names after the god Jupiter’s lovers with the convention names ending in a have prograde (or orbiting the planet in the same direction as its rotation) and names ending in o have retrograde motion (orbiting the planet in a direction option).
Jupiter’s moon Io, is known for its volcanic activity. Features there are named for fire gods and characters in Dante’s Inferno. Europa’s features are named from the Greek Europa myth as well as some Celtic mythology.
Slow moving Saturn is the Roman god of agriculture but he was also the god of time.
On Saturn’s moon Titan, the only other body in our solar system where liquid abounds, names are drawn from Earthly lakes, rivers and seas.
Uranus was originally named Georgium in honor King George the III by it’s discover Herschel. German astronomer Johann Elert Bode suggested Uranus to keep with the tradition of classical myths.
Moons of Uranus are dominated by Shakespearean characters and places, a favorite of discoverer William Herschel.
Beautiful blue Neptune is named for the Roman god of the sea so the aquatic theme assigned to its lunar features makes sense.
The (former) planet Pluto was named for the Greek god of the underworld not the cartoon dog as many assume. It was actually the other way around as Disney Archivist Dave Smith confirmed, pointing to the screen debut of Pluto (the dog) months after the announcement of Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto (the planet) . The name was suggested by 11 year old Venetia Phair in 1930.
You can read more about naming conventions on the IAU website. Or the Wikipedia article on planetary nomenclature is well maintained as well. It’s also a good place to learn more about largely latin terms used to identify feature types.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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