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The adjectival forms of the names of astronomical bodies are not always easily predictable. Attested adjectival forms of the larger bodies are listed below, along with the two small Martian moons; in some cases they are accompanied by their demonymic equivalents, which denote hypothetical inhabitants of these bodies.
In the early days, only a very limited number of features could be seen on other Solar System bodies other than the Moon. Craters on the Moon could be observed with even some of the earliest telescopes, and 19th-century telescopes could make out some features on Mars. Jupiter had its famous Great Red Spot, also visible through early telescopes.
Mercury's moon, hypothesised to account for an unusual pattern of radiation detected by Mariner 10 in the vicinity of Mercury. Subsequent data from the mission revealed the actual source to be the star 31 Crateris. Neith, a purported moon of Venus, falsely detected by a number of telescopic observers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Now known ...
Venera 3, launched in 1966, became humanity's first probe and lander to reach and impact another celestial body other than the Moon, but could not return data as it crashed into the surface of Venus. In 1967, Venera 4 was launched and successfully deployed science experiments in the Venusian atmosphere before impacting.
Francesco Fontana's drawing of the supposed satellite(s) of Venus. Woodcuts from Fontana's work. The fringes of light around Venus are produced by optical effects. Neith is a hypothetical natural satellite of Venus reportedly sighted by Giovanni Cassini in 1672 and by several other astronomers in following years. It was 'observed' up to 30 ...
In the astronomical literature it was simply referred to as "the satellite of Neptune". Later, the second known moon, Nereid, was named by its discoverer in 1949, Gerard P. Kuiper, soon after its discovery. Current IAU practice for newly discovered Neptunian moons is to accord with these first two choices by naming them after Greek sea deities.
On August 23, 2023, Venus retrograde and Mercury retrograde will join forces for a wild and crazy finale to summer. As you look at your calendar to lock in your last-minute summer plans, there are ...
Exceptions to this rule are valleys and craters on Mars and Venus; naming conventions for these features differ according to size. One feature classification, regio, was originally used on early maps of the Moon and Mercury (drawn from telescopic observations) to describe vague albedo features. It is now used to delineate a broad geographic region.