When and by whom were the nine planets in the solar system named?
1, mercury
Mercury was discovered as early as 3000 BC in Sumerian times, and the ancient Greeks gave it two names: Apollo when it first appeared in the morning and Hermes shining in the night sky. However, ancient Greek astronomers knew that these two names actually refer to the same star, and Heraclitus (a Greek philosopher in the 5th century BC) even thought that Mercury and Venus revolved around the sun instead of the earth.
In ancient Roman mythology, Mercury was the god of commerce, travel and theft, that is, Hermes in ancient Greek mythology, the god who sent letters to the gods. Perhaps it is because Mercury moves rapidly in the air, so it is named.
2. Venus
People have known about Venus since prehistoric times. Besides the sun and the moon, it is the brightest. Like Mercury, it is usually considered to be composed of two independent stars: the morning star is called Eosphorus and the evening star is called Hesperus, which Greek astronomers know better.
Venus (Greek: Aphrodite; Babylonian: Ishtar is the goddess of beauty and love. Perhaps it was so named because it was the brightest planet in the known world for ancient people. There are also some objections that Venus is named because its surface resembles that of a woman. )
3. Earth
Earth is the only name that doesn't come from Greek or Roman mythology. The word earth comes from old English and Germanic. Of course, there are many other languages. In Roman mythology, the goddess of the earth is called Tellus-fertile land (Greek: Gaia, mother of the earth). It was not until the Copernican era of16th century that people realized that the earth was just a planet. It is also the only planet in the solar system with liquid water.
4. Mars
Humans have known about Mars since prehistoric times. Mars (Greek: Ares) is called the God of War. This may be due to its bright red color; Mars is sometimes called the "red planet". Interesting note: Before the Greeks, the ancient Romans once worshipped Mars as the god of farming. The aggressive Greeks regarded Mars as a symbol of war, and the name of March also came from Mars.
5. Jupiter
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky (second only to the sun, the moon and Venus; Sometimes Mars is brighter), Jupiter has been known to mankind as early as prehistoric times.
Jupiter (also called Jupiter; The Greeks called Zeus the king of God, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the protector of Rome. He is the son of Cronus (Saturn).
6.saturn
Saturn was discovered in prehistoric times. Galileo first observed it through a telescope in 16 10 and recorded its strange trajectory, but he was also puzzled by it. The early observation of Saturn is very complicated, because every few years when Saturn is in its orbit, the earth will pass through the plane where Saturn's rings are located.
In Roman mythology, Saturn "Saturnos" is the name of Saturn. Cronus, the god of agriculture in Greek mythology, is the son of Uranus and Gaia and the father of Zeus (Jupiter). Saturn is also the root of Saturday in English.
7. Uranus
Uranus was searched by William Herschel through the telescope system and was discovered on 1 781March 31day. It is the first planet discovered in modern times.
Because the names of other planets are taken from Greek mythology, Baud first proposed to call them "Uranus" for consistency, but it was not widely used until 1850. Only one interplanetary probe has been to Uranus, which was completed by Voyager 2 on 19861October 24th.
8. Neptune
In ancient Roman mythology, Neptune (Greek mythology: Poseidon) represents Poseidon, the sea god. After Uranus was discovered, people noticed that its orbit was inconsistent with that inferred from Newton's theory.
So scientists predict the existence of another distant planet, which will affect the orbit of Uranus. Galle and Delaur first observed Neptune on123 September, 846, and its position was very close to that predicted independently by Adams and Levell based on the observed positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.
9. Pluto
After the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union was held on August 24, 2006, Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet by voting, leaving only eight planets in the solar system. The saying of "nine planets" has become history, and it has been replaced by "eight planets".
Baidu Encyclopedia-Nine Planets in the Solar System