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In antiquity the '''classical planets''' were the seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky. The classical planets were, therefore, the [[Sun]] and [[Moon]] and the five [[planet]]s [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], and [[Saturn]]. The name [[planet]] comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] term πλανήτης, ''planētēs'', meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how [[retrograde motion|certain lights moved]] across the sky with the other stars. They called these objects ''asteres planetai'', or '''wandering stars'''. Together they form the '''seven classical planets''', as well as the names of the [[Seven-day week#Astronomy|seven days of the week]] - Sun-day, Moon-day, Saturn-day, and in [[Latin]], 'Martis' (Mars, Tuesday), 'Mercurii' (Wednesday), 'Iovis' (Jupiter, Thursday) and 'Veneris' (Venus, Friday). |
In antiquity the '''classical planets''' were the seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky; they were/are also known as the ''7 planets of the ancients''<ref>http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/classification/classification.html</ref>. The classical planets were, therefore, the [[Sun]] and [[Moon]] and the five [[planet]]s [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], and [[Saturn]]. The name [[planet]] comes from the [[Greek language|Greek]] term πλανήτης, ''planētēs'', meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how [[retrograde motion|certain lights moved]] across the sky with the other stars. They called these objects ''asteres planetai'', or '''wandering stars'''. Together they form the '''seven classical planets''', as well as the names of the [[Seven-day week#Astronomy|seven days of the week]] - Sun-day, Moon-day, Saturn-day, and in [[Latin]], 'Martis' (Mars, Tuesday), 'Mercurii' (Wednesday), 'Iovis' (Jupiter, Thursday) and 'Veneris' (Venus, Friday). |
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Mercury and Venus are only visible in twilight hours as their orbits are interior to the Earth's orbit. The third brightest object in the sky, Venus is the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthy [[twilight]] and an extremely low angle at maximum [[Elongation (astronomy)|elongation]]s make optical filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.<ref>[http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/latitude.html Sky Publishing - Latitude Is Everything<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Mars is at its brightest when it is in [[Astronomical opposition|opposition]], which occurs approximately every twenty-five Earth-months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light back toward the Earth to varying degrees depending on their inclination to the [[ecliptic]]; however, the rings themselves are not visible to the naked eye from the Earth. [[Uranus]] and sometimes the [[asteroid]] [[4 Vesta|Vesta]] are visible to the naked eye in principle on very clear nights, but unlike the true naked-eye planets they are always less luminous than several thousands of stars, and as such, do not stand out enough for their existences to be noticed without the aid of a telescope. |
Mercury and Venus are only visible in twilight hours as their orbits are interior to the Earth's orbit. The third brightest object in the sky, Venus is the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthy [[twilight]] and an extremely low angle at maximum [[Elongation (astronomy)|elongation]]s make optical filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.<ref>[http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/latitude.html Sky Publishing - Latitude Is Everything<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Mars is at its brightest when it is in [[Astronomical opposition|opposition]], which occurs approximately every twenty-five Earth-months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light back toward the Earth to varying degrees depending on their inclination to the [[ecliptic]]; however, the rings themselves are not visible to the naked eye from the Earth. [[Uranus]] and sometimes the [[asteroid]] [[4 Vesta|Vesta]] are visible to the naked eye in principle on very clear nights, but unlike the true naked-eye planets they are always less luminous than several thousands of stars, and as such, do not stand out enough for their existences to be noticed without the aid of a telescope. |
Revision as of 01:18, 19 December 2013
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Astrological signs |
Symbols |
In antiquity the classical planets were the seven non-fixed objects visible in the sky; they were/are also known as the 7 planets of the ancients[1]. The classical planets were, therefore, the Sun and Moon and the five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The name planet comes from the Greek term πλανήτης, planētēs, meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky with the other stars. They called these objects asteres planetai, or wandering stars. Together they form the seven classical planets, as well as the names of the seven days of the week - Sun-day, Moon-day, Saturn-day, and in Latin, 'Martis' (Mars, Tuesday), 'Mercurii' (Wednesday), 'Iovis' (Jupiter, Thursday) and 'Veneris' (Venus, Friday).
Mercury and Venus are only visible in twilight hours as their orbits are interior to the Earth's orbit. The third brightest object in the sky, Venus is the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthy twilight and an extremely low angle at maximum elongations make optical filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.[2] Mars is at its brightest when it is in opposition, which occurs approximately every twenty-five Earth-months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light back toward the Earth to varying degrees depending on their inclination to the ecliptic; however, the rings themselves are not visible to the naked eye from the Earth. Uranus and sometimes the asteroid Vesta are visible to the naked eye in principle on very clear nights, but unlike the true naked-eye planets they are always less luminous than several thousands of stars, and as such, do not stand out enough for their existences to be noticed without the aid of a telescope.
History
Babylonian astronomy
Babylonians grouped the stars in companies of seven. References are made to the seven Tikshi, the seven Lumashi, and the seven Mashi, which are older than the signs of the Zodiac; so far as can be ascertained these groups were selected from various constellations. When the five planets were identified, they were associated with the Sun and Moon and connected with the chief gods of the Hammurabi pantheon. A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order: [3]
Sumerian | Akkadian | planet | godship |
Aku | Sin | Moon | Sin/Suen |
Bišebi | Šamaš | Sun | Šamaš |
Dapinu | Umun-sig-êa | Jupiter | Marduk/Amarutu |
Zib/Zig | Dele-bat | Venus | Ištar |
Lu-lim | Lu-bat-sag-uš | Saturn | Ninib/Nirig/Ninip[4] |
Bibbu | Lubat-gud | Mercury | Nabu/Nebo |
Simutu | Muštabarru | Mars | Nergal |
Greek astrology
Symbols
Symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved.[5] In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray () for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon.[6]
The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri.[7] The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus.[7] A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century,[8] shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.[9]
A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols.[9] The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot (☉), first appeared in the Renaissance.[6]
Week-day names
The Ptolemaic system used in Greek astronomy placed the planets in order, closest to Earth to furthest, as the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In addition the day was divided into 7-hour intervals, each ruled by one of the planets, although the order was staggered (see below).
The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of the Roman seven-day week. Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the Romans and they were named after the classical planets—for example in Spanish Miércoles = Mercury, in French Mardi = Mars.
The modern English days of the week were inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse culture—Thursday = Thor (Jupiter), Friday = Frige (Venus). It can be correlated that the Norse gods were attributed to each Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the planets.
Weekday (English name) | Planet (Roman god) | Germanic god (Norse name) | Germanic god (Saxon name) |
Sunday | Sun (Sol) | Sunni | Sunnu |
Monday | Moon (Luna) | Mani | Mona |
Tuesday | Mars | Tyr | Tiw |
Wednesday | Mercury | Odin | Woden |
Thursday | Jupiter | Thor | Thunor |
Friday | Venus | Frigg | Frige |
Saturday | Saturn | — | — |
Alchemy
In alchemy, each classical planet (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) was associated with one of the seven metals known to the classical world (silver, mercury/quicksilver, copper, gold, iron, tin and lead respectively). As a result the alchemical glyphs for the metal and associated planet coincide. Alchemists believed the other elemental metals were variants of these seven (e.g. zinc was known as "Indian tin" or "mock silver" [10]).
-
☿ The symbol has been used to represent both the element quicksilver (mercury) and the planet Mercury.
Some alchemists (e.g. Paracelsus) adopted the Hermetic Qabalah assignment between the vital organs and the planets as follows:[10]
Planet | Organ |
Sun | Heart |
Moon | Brain |
Mercury | Lungs |
Venus | Kidneys |
Mars | Gall bladder |
Jupiter | Liver |
Saturn | Spleen |
Western astrology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Thema_Mundi.svg/300px-Thema_Mundi.svg.png)
Planet | Domicile sign(s) | Detriment sign(s) | Exaltation sign | Fall sign | Joy sign(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sun | Leo | Aquarius | Aries | Libra | Sagittarius |
Moon | Cancer | Capricorn | Taurus | Capricorn | Pisces |
Mercury | Gemini (diurnal) and Virgo (nocturnal) | Sagittarius (diurnal) and Pisces (nocturnal) | Virgo | Pisces | Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn and Aquarius |
Venus | Libra (diurnal) and Taurus (nocturnal) | Aries (diurnal) and Scorpio (nocturnal) | Pisces | Virgo | Gemini, Cancer and Aquarius |
Mars | Aries (diurnal) and Scorpio (nocturnal) | Libra (diurnal) and Taurus (nocturnal) | Capricorn | Cancer | Leo, Virgo and Sagittarius |
Jupiter | Sagittarius (diurnal) and Pisces (nocturnal) | Gemini (diurnal) and Virgo (nocturnal) | Cancer | Capricorn | Taurus, Leo and Libra |
Saturn | Aquarius (diurnal) and Capricorn (nocturnal) | Leo (diurnal) and Cancer (nocturnal) | Libra | Aries | Gemini, Virgo and Scorpio |
Indian astrology
Indian astronomy and astrology (Jyotiṣa) recognises seven visible planets (including the sun and moon) and two additional invisible planets.
Sanskrit Name | Tamil name | English Name | Guna | Represents | Day |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Surya (सूर्य) | ஞாயிறு(nyayiru) | Sun | Sattva | Soul, king, highly placed persons, father. | Sunday |
Chandra (चंद्र) | திங்கள்(thingal) | Moon | Sattva | Mind, queen, mother. | Monday |
Mangala (मंगल) | செவ்வாய்(cevvai) | Mars | Tamas | energetic action, confidence and ego | Tuesday |
Budha (बुध) | புதன் | Mercury | Rajas | Communication and analysis | Wednesday |
Brihaspati (बृहस्पति) | வியாழன்(vyalan) | Jupiter | Sattva | the great teacher | Thursday |
Shukra (शुक्र) | வெள்ளி(velli) | Venus | Rajas | wealth, pleasure and reproduction | Friday |
Shani (शनि) | சனி | Saturn | Tamas | learning the hard way. Career and Longevity | Saturday |
Rahu (राहु) | கரும்பாம்பு(karumpaambu) | Ascending/North Lunar Node | Tamas | an Asura who does his best to plunge any area of one's life he controls into chaos | none |
Ketu (केतु) | செம்பாம்பு(cempaaambu) | Descending/South Lunar Node | Tamas | supernatural influences | none |
East Asia
For the five true planets, their element's Chinese character, hanzi(汉字), is also part of the names of weekdays in Japanese and Korean, complemented with Sunday and Monday.[11] However, Chinese and Vietnamese number the days other than Sunday.[12]
English Name | Associated element | Chinese/Japanese Characters | Chinese pinyin | Japanese romaji | Korean Name | Vietnamese Name | Old astronomical names[13] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mercury | water | 水星 | Shuǐxīng | Suisei | 수성 (Suseong) | Sao Thủy | Chénxīng (辰星) |
Venus | metal/gold | 金星 | Jīnxīng | Kinsei | 금성 (Geumseong) | Sao Kim, also "Sao Mai" as "morning star" and "Sao Hôm" as "evening star" | Tàibái (太白) |
Mars | fire | 火星 | Huǒxīng | Kasei | 화성 (Hwaseong) | Sao Hỏa | Yínghuò (熒惑) |
Jupiter | wood | 木星 | Mùxīng | Mokusei | 목성 (Mokseong) | Sao Mộc | Suì (歲) |
Saturn | earth | 土星 | Tǔxīng | Dosei | 토성 (Toseong) | Sao Thổ | Zhènxīng (鎮星) |
The cycles of the Chinese calendar are linked to the orbit of Jupiter, there being 12 sacred beasts in the Chinese dodecannualar geomantic and astrological cycle, and 12 years in the orbit of Jupiter.
See also
- Antikythera mechanism
- Aspects of Venus
- Definition of planet
- Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
- Geocentric model
- Celestial spheres
References
- ^ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/classification/classification.html
- ^ Sky Publishing - Latitude Is Everything
- ^ Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria (1915), chapter 13 "Astrology and Astronomy"[1]
- ^ also called (Sumerian) Kâawanu and (Akkadian) Sag-uš "firm, steadfast, phlegmatic"; see The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria by Thophilus G. Pinches
- ^ Neugebauer, Otto (1975). A history of ancient mathematical astronomy. pp. 788–789.
- ^ a b Neugebauer, Otto; Van Hoesen, H. B. (1987). Greek Horoscopes. pp. 1, 159, 163. Cite error: The named reference "neugebauer-1987" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b Jones, Alexander (1999). Astronomical papyri from Oxyrhynchus. pp. 62–63. "It is now possible to trace the medieval symbols for at least four of the five planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus horoscopes ([ P.Oxy. ] 4272, 4274, 4275 [...]). That for Jupiter is an obvious monogram derived form the initial letter of the Greek name. Saturn's has a similar derivation [...] but underwent simplification. The ideal form of Mars' symbol is uncertain, and perhaps not related to the later circle with an arrow through it. Mercury's is a stylized caduceus."
- ^ "Bianchini's planisphere". Florence, Italy: Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science). Retrieved 2010-03-17.
- ^ a b Maunder, A. S. D. (1934). "The origin of the symbols of the planets". The Observatory. 57: 238–247. Bibcode:1934Obs....57..238M.
- ^ a b Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science, ISBN 978-0-09-945787-9
- ^ http://home.unilang.org/wiki3/index.php/Translations:_element_days Element Days
- ^ http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/ Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese & Vietnamese
- ^ 中国古代的日月五星