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Naming of moons
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Naming of moons
The naming of moons has been the responsibility of the International Astronomical Union's committee for Planetary System Nomenclature since 1973. That committee is known today as the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).
Prior to its formation, the names of satellites have had varying histories. The choice of names is often determined by a satellite's discoverer; however, historically some satellites were not given names for many years after their discovery; for instance, Titan was discovered by Huygens in 1655, but was not named until 1847, almost two centuries later.
Before the IAU assumed responsibility for astronomical nomenclature, only twenty-five satellites had been given names that were in wide use and are still used: 1 of Earth, 2 of Mars, 5 of Jupiter, 10 of Saturn, 5 of Uranus, and 2 of Neptune. Since then, names have been given to 137 additional planetary and dwarf planetary satellites: 52 satellites of Jupiter, 53 of Saturn, 22 of Uranus, 12 of Neptune, 5 of Pluto, 2 of Haumea, and 1 each of Eris, Gonggong, Quaoar, and Orcus. Names have also been given to some satellites of minor planets, including the dwarf planet candidates Salacia and Varda which have one satellite each. The number will continue to rise as current satellite discoveries are documented and new satellites are discovered.
At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004, the WGPSN suggested it may become advisable to not name small satellites, as CCD technology makes it possible to discover satellites as small as 1 km in diameter. Until 2014, names were applied to all planetary moons discovered, regardless of size. From 2015, some small moons have not received names.
Every human language has its own word for the Earth's Moon, and these words are the ones normally used in astronomical contexts. However, a number of fanciful or mythological names for the Moon have been used in the context of astronomy (an even larger number of lunar epithets have been used in non-astronomical contexts). In the 17th century, the Moon was sometimes referred to as Proserpina. More recently, especially in science-fiction content, the Moon has been called Earth I, analogue to the numbering of Jovian moons with roman numbers, or by the Latin name Luna, presumably on the analogy of the Latin names of the planets, or by association with the adjectival form lunar, or a need to differentiate it from other moons that may be present in a fictional setting; however, in several Romance languages, such as Spanish, the word "luna" is often used to refer to any natural satellite in the same way as "moon" in English, which is problematic.
In technical terminology, the word-stems seleno- (from Greek selēnē "moon") and cynthi- (from Cynthia, an epithet of the goddess Artemis or Diana) are sometimes used to refer to the Moon, as in selenography, selenology, and pericynthion.
The moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos) were named by Asaph Hall in 1878, soon after he discovered them. They are named after the sons of the god Ares (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Mars).
The Galilean moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) were named by Simon Marius soon after their discovery in 1610. However, by the late 19th century these names had fallen out of favor, and for a long time it was most common to refer to them in the astronomical literature simply as "Jupiter I", "Jupiter II", etc., or as "the first satellite of Jupiter", "Jupiter's second satellite", etc.
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Naming of moons
The naming of moons has been the responsibility of the International Astronomical Union's committee for Planetary System Nomenclature since 1973. That committee is known today as the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).
Prior to its formation, the names of satellites have had varying histories. The choice of names is often determined by a satellite's discoverer; however, historically some satellites were not given names for many years after their discovery; for instance, Titan was discovered by Huygens in 1655, but was not named until 1847, almost two centuries later.
Before the IAU assumed responsibility for astronomical nomenclature, only twenty-five satellites had been given names that were in wide use and are still used: 1 of Earth, 2 of Mars, 5 of Jupiter, 10 of Saturn, 5 of Uranus, and 2 of Neptune. Since then, names have been given to 137 additional planetary and dwarf planetary satellites: 52 satellites of Jupiter, 53 of Saturn, 22 of Uranus, 12 of Neptune, 5 of Pluto, 2 of Haumea, and 1 each of Eris, Gonggong, Quaoar, and Orcus. Names have also been given to some satellites of minor planets, including the dwarf planet candidates Salacia and Varda which have one satellite each. The number will continue to rise as current satellite discoveries are documented and new satellites are discovered.
At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004, the WGPSN suggested it may become advisable to not name small satellites, as CCD technology makes it possible to discover satellites as small as 1 km in diameter. Until 2014, names were applied to all planetary moons discovered, regardless of size. From 2015, some small moons have not received names.
Every human language has its own word for the Earth's Moon, and these words are the ones normally used in astronomical contexts. However, a number of fanciful or mythological names for the Moon have been used in the context of astronomy (an even larger number of lunar epithets have been used in non-astronomical contexts). In the 17th century, the Moon was sometimes referred to as Proserpina. More recently, especially in science-fiction content, the Moon has been called Earth I, analogue to the numbering of Jovian moons with roman numbers, or by the Latin name Luna, presumably on the analogy of the Latin names of the planets, or by association with the adjectival form lunar, or a need to differentiate it from other moons that may be present in a fictional setting; however, in several Romance languages, such as Spanish, the word "luna" is often used to refer to any natural satellite in the same way as "moon" in English, which is problematic.
In technical terminology, the word-stems seleno- (from Greek selēnē "moon") and cynthi- (from Cynthia, an epithet of the goddess Artemis or Diana) are sometimes used to refer to the Moon, as in selenography, selenology, and pericynthion.
The moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos) were named by Asaph Hall in 1878, soon after he discovered them. They are named after the sons of the god Ares (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Mars).
The Galilean moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) were named by Simon Marius soon after their discovery in 1610. However, by the late 19th century these names had fallen out of favor, and for a long time it was most common to refer to them in the astronomical literature simply as "Jupiter I", "Jupiter II", etc., or as "the first satellite of Jupiter", "Jupiter's second satellite", etc.