solar system

The Sun, known also as Sol, named after a Roman god, and the astronomical bodies that orbit it. In modern times, the English names for six of the planets are Roman gods and the names for two of the planets are Greek gods. (Earth is an Old English word that refers to the planet we live on.) These gods are Mercury—The Roman god of trade and merchants Venus—The Roman goddess of the productive power of nature Mars—A Roman god of fertility and war Jupiter—The supreme Roman god Saturn—A very old Roman god of agriculture, father of Jupiter Uranus—A very ancient Greek deity, husband of Gaia Neptune—An ancient Roman sea god Pluto (no longer considered a planet)—A ritual title for Hades, Greek god of the Underworld and Roman god Dis Many of the moons of these planets were discovered since about a.d. 1500. They, too, were given mythological names, most of them from the Greek stories. Some of Jupiter's 16 moons are Ganymede, Europa, Io, and Callisto. Some of Saturn's 20 moons are Tethys, Prometheus, Pandora, and Atlas. Neptune's moons, too, have been named after beings from Greek mythology. Triton is the largest, discovered soon after the planet in 1846. Most of the moons were discovered in 1989, but also received Greek names, including Proteus, Galatea and Thalassa. The first known asteroid, Ceres, named after a Roman goddess, was discovered in 1801. Since then, many asteroids have received mythological names. Juno, Vesta, and Icarus, as well as Eros, the first asteroid to be orbited by a humanmade probe, are also named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.