He wanted to name it for the astronomer Urbain Le Verrier. The name came from Ouranos, the Greek god of the sky and father of Saturn.ĭecades later, Johann Galle discovered the eighth planet. However, others decided to call it Uranus. When William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he wanted to name it for the English king, George III. And the practice of naming objects in the sky after stories from mythology caught on, too. They then named the ringed planet Saturn for Jupiter’s father. That’s why the Romans gave it the name of the king of their gods. On the other side of the asteroid belt, Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. That’s because of its color-it’s also called the Red Planet! Mars was named after the Roman god of war. That’s why the Romans gave it the name of their goddess of love and beauty. Since it appeared to move faster than the others, the Romans named it after the god that carried messages. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, has the shortest revolution. The Romans named the planets after their gods. It included stories about the beginning of the world and about the actions of gods. Have you ever heard of Roman mythology? It is a set of beliefs Romans held about the world. That’s how the Romans gave the planets their names. They noticed that each planet had different characteristics. In fact, people have been staring up at Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for thousands of years.Īncient Romans paid much attention to Earth’s neighbors. No telescope? No problem! The five planets closest to Earth can be seen with the naked eye.
If you look in the right areas, you might even notice a few planets. But you may also see comets or shooting stars. You’ll notice the Moon, of course (unless it’s a New Moon!). Do you ever look up at the night sky? Can you find the Big Dipper? How about Orion? If you look closely, you can see much more than stars at night.
0 kommentar(er)
