Why are so many planets named after Roman gods?

Moment of Um

American Public Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2023

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

All of the planets in our solar system, and plenty of the moons, are named after gods or other figures from ancient Roman mythology. Have you ever wondered who picked those names? And why is the theme Roman gods, and not famous kings, favorite cartoon characters, or notable cats? We asked astronomer Mark Popinchalk to help us find the answer.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on this is the moment of um
0:10.2	Moment of um moment of um moment of um come comes to you from APM Studios on Cordea, the ancient Roman goddess of doorways, hinges, and door handles.
0:20.0	Ughurs.
0:22.0	You know a thousand years ago it was a pretty sweet gig to be a Roman god
0:28.9	practically every Roman citizen sent some prayers my way. I was a beloved protector of children and a guardian
0:36.3	of the home. You wouldn't find any evil spirits crossing one of my thresholds, and I
0:42.2	made sure that none of my patrons ever had a
0:44.9	squeaky hinge or loose handle on their doors. But now? Oh, hardly anyone knows about me.
0:54.4	I know I'm not part of the A-list of gods on Mount Olympus, but would it be so much to ask to have a planet
1:01.4	named after me?
1:03.0	Plenty of other Roman gods have planets named after them.
1:07.0	Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Mars.
1:10.0	And you don't see them fixing the squeaky hinges of the world.
1:14.0	Ugh!
1:15.0	Why are so many planets named after us gods anyway?
1:20.0	My friend Ada was wondering the same thing.
1:27.0	Hi, my name is Ada.
1:28.0	I'm from Portland, Oregon.
1:30.3	My question is, why are so many planets named after Roman gods?
1:36.0	It's just what we name the planets.
1:41.0	You can name the planets whatever you want, right? It's just that
1:44.0	we're choosing to follow the names that somebody else came up with. My name is Mark
	...

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