Where did they name each planet from??

Question: Where did they name each planet from??
- Keywords:
  history,
  space,
  universe
Asked by 10kniwilc to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 25 Jun 2013.
- Hannah Brotherton answered on 25 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi 10kniwilc,
  loving the questions!!
  So the Romans and Greeks names our plants.
  In those times, you could see the planets really well (because we didn’t have much air pollution which stops us seeing the night sky). The Romans names these planets by their movements …so Venus which is the brightest planet was named after the Roman goddess of Beauty. Mars was red and big and so was seen as angry and was named after the god of war.
  These names the Romans gave to them carried on through time and now they are still used today in science 😀
  
  So if we could rename now, what would you rename them as?
  
  😀
- Daniela Plana answered on 25 Jun 2013:
  
  Hey 10kniwilc !
  
  They are mostly from Greek and Roman gods, as Hannah says…
  
  Mars for example was the Roman god of war, while Venus was the Roman goddess of love
  
  Daniela
- Mark Hodson answered on 25 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi 10kniwilc,
  
  Hannah has got it covered. As scientists discover more and more planets the names are getting a bit more random. Recently the actors from the original Star Trek tv series were trying to get a newly discovered planet named Vulcan.
- Ian Wilson answered on 25 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi 10kniwilc,
  
  The planets were named by the Greeks and Romans and they were named after their Gods. The stargazers in those days couldn’t see very far into space at all, compared with our modern day abilities. But they could see the way the planets moved and they reminded them of the Gods. This website lists how all of them got their names – it’s really interesting how they associated the planets’ movements with their Gods:
  
  http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0875452.html
  
  Cheers,
  
  Ian

Question: Where did they name each planet from??

Comments