Why are so many planets named after Roman gods?

Moment Of Um

Lemonada 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. Got a question that’s outta this world? Send it to us at BrainsOn.org/contact, and you can nepTUNE in to hear the answer! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the brains behind brains on, this is the moment of um.
0:06.8	Um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, moment of um comes to you from APM studios.
0:13.8	Um, Kordaaa, the ancient Roman goddess of doorways, hinges, and door handles.
0:20.5	Um. Um...
0:21.6	You know, a thousand years ago, it was a pretty sweet gig to be a Roman god.
0:29.5	Practically every Roman citizen sent some prayers my way.
0:33.6	I was a beloved protector of children and a guardian of the home.
0:37.6	You wouldn't find any evil spirits crossing one of my thresholds,
0:41.7	and I made sure that none of my patrons ever had a squeaky hinge or loose handle on their doors.
0:48.7	But now?
0:50.8	Oh, hardly anyone knows about me.
0:54.6	I know I'm not part of the A-list of gods on Mount Olympus,
0:57.9	but would it be so much to ask to have a planet named after me?
1:03.2	Plenty of other Roman gods have planets named after them.
1:06.8	Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Mars.
1:10.5	And you don't see them fixing the squeaky hinges of the world?
1:14.5	Ugh!
1:15.6	Why are so many planets named after us gods anyway?
1:19.9	My friend Ada was wondering the same thing.
1:26.6	Hi, my name is Ada. I'm from Portland, Oregon. My question is, why are so many planets named after Roman gods?
1:38.3	It's just what we name the planets. You can name the planets whatever you want, right? It's just that we're choosing
1:44.7	to follow the names that somebody else came up with. My name is Mark Poppanchuk. I'm a graduate
	...

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