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Kolob is a star or planet described in the Book of Abraham, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Several Latter Day Saint denominations claim that the Book of Abraham was translated from an Egyptian papyrus scroll by Joseph Smith, the founder of the movement. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of ...
Eros is named after the Greek god of love, Erōs. It was the first minor planet to be given a male name; [ 3 ] the break with earlier tradition was made because it was the first near-Earth asteroid discovered.
The Romans named the planet after the swift-footed Roman messenger god, Mercury (Latin Mercurius), whom they equated with the Greek Hermes, because it moves across the sky faster than any other planet, [20] [23] though some associated the planet with Apollo instead, as detailed by Pliny the Elder. [24]
French astronomers began calling it Herschel before German Johann Bode proposed the name Uranus, after the Greek god. The name "Uranus" did not come into common usage until around 1850. Starting in 1801, asteroids were discovered between Mars and Jupiter. The first few (Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta) were initially considered planets. As more and ...
Mars is named after the Roman god of war (Greek Ares), but was also associated with the demi-god Heracles (Roman Hercules) by ancient Greek astronomers, as detailed by Aristotle. [275] This association between Mars and war dates back at least to Babylonian astronomy, in which the planet was named for the god Nergal, deity of war and destruction.
[58] [59] In Māori, the planet is called Tangaroa, named after the Māori god of the sea. [60] In Nahuatl, the planet is called Tlāloccītlalli, named after the rain god Tlāloc. [60] In Thai, Neptune is referred to by the Westernised name Dao Nepchun/Nepjun (ดาวเนปจูน) but is also called Dao Ket (ดาวเกตุ, lit.
Proper names of planetary systems often follow common themes – for example, the planets of the star Copernicus are named after European astronomers. Proper names for planets outside of the Solar System – known as exoplanets – are chosen by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) through public naming contests known as NameExoWorlds.
These features can be named after places associated with Io mythology, derived from nearby named features, or places from Dante's Inferno: Paterae Paterae on Io are named after fire, sun, thunder or volcano gods, heroes or goddesses or mythical blacksmiths. Valles Names of valleys are derived from nearby named features.