We live within a cosmic neighborhood that protects us from the dangers that lie out there in interstellar space. Just as a cell has a membrane that protects it from the outside, likewise the Sun extends a protective shield that delimits the horizon of the Solar System. Inside here we have a series of minor and major planets that accompany us on our journey through the expansion of the Universe. These planets have an order that has generated a kind of synergy, like a gear, each of them is well known to humanity by a specific name, but where did they emerge from and why are they called that?
It could be said that the Solar System is our cosmic cell and although it is the space we inhabit, we continue to explore it and try to decipher its mysteries. From the Greeks to the present day, cosmonauts have been in search of orbs that accompany us on this everlasting journey around the Sun. And little by little they have been deciphering the order of the planets in the Solar System and have baptized them with different names. .
The order of the planets
The order of the planets starting from the closest to our king is as follows: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The first four are considered terrestrial planets, since they are composed mainly of rock and metal. While the last four are called Jovian planets, they are made up of gas and are called ‘gas giants’.
Although it is also worth mentioning that there came a point when researchers began to discover so many space objects that the scientific community had to sit down and discuss what characteristics they must meet to be considered a planet. Since then, it has been debated whether Pluto, the last planet discovered, could really hold the title of planet. Finally, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union decided to leave it off the list of planets and it was considered a dwarf planet.
Origin of the names of the planets
The origin of the name of the planets comes from many centuries ago. The ancient Greeks, the cosmonauts par excellence and great observers of the sky, had a very unique vision of the origin of the universe. For the Greeks, this arose from chaos, from which the creative force begins to take shape and manifests itself as Eurynome. This deposits an egg that is later warmed by Ophion, the primal serpent. From there emerges the first generation of gods, Uranus (the sky) and Gaia (the Earth).
From here everything gets complicated, but we know that later on Mount Olympus more gods like Zeus are established and others of them begin to reign representing the forces of nature. Zeus, Cronus, Hermes, Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, all of them are part of the Greek worldview. Later, with the arrival of the Romans, the essence of these gods remained intact, although their names changed to Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Mars, Venus.
The origin of the names of the planets comes directly from this Greco-Latin worldview, since it was the Greeks and Romans who discovered the existence of planets that accompanied us in space.
The names of the planets of the Solar System
Thus the Solar System is complete or at least as far as we know it today. Since researchers continue looking for new planets that could accompany us on this eternal journey.