Astronomy Answers: From the Astronomical Dictionary

Astronomy Answers
From the Astronomical Dictionary


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The description of the word you requested from the astronomical dictionary is given below.

the names of celestial bodies

The brightest celestial bodies, such as the Sun, Moon, and planets, have their own names in pretty much every language. If a common name is needed, then usually a greek or latin name is used. The following table shows the english, greek, and latin names of a number of celestial bodies, and also the prefixes and postfixes that can be used to refer to those bodies.

Table 5: Planet Names in Languages, Prefixes, and Postfixes

English Greek Latin Prefixes Postfixes
Sun Hèlios Sol helio- -helium
Moon Selènè Luna seleno- -selenium
Mercury Hermes Mercurius mecurio- -mercurium
Venus Aphroditè Venus venero- -venerum
Earth Terra geo- -gee
Mars Ares Mars aro- -martium
Jupiter Zeus Iupiter jovi- -jovum
Saturn Chronos Saturnus saturno- -saturnum
Uranus Ouranos Uranus urano- -uranum
Neptune Poseidon Neptunus neptuno- -neptunum
Pluto Ploutoon Pluto pluto- -plutum
Milky Way galaxias kuklos galaxis galacto- -galactium
planet planètès astèr planetus planeto- -planetum
star astèr siderus astro- sider- -astron

Some examples: geography, selenographical, heliocentric, periastron, apogee, sidereal, astronomy.