While browsing asteroid catalogs I noticed that many objects discovered in the 1800s follow a Greek mythology naming pattern.
One example is 105 Artemis.
When I looked through other objects discovered in the same period, a lot of them also seem to follow mythological naming conventions. Examples include:
• 1 Ceres
• 2 Pallas
• 3 Juno
• 4 Vesta
So, my question is why did they choose names like these? What’s the history behind it?
by alderon7
2 Comments
In the 19th century, astronomers named asteroids after figures from Greek and Roman mythology to continue the tradition used for planets.
Early objects like Ceres and Pallas were initially treated as planets, so they received “divine” names.
Scientists of that era had a classical education and were very familiar with mythology, making such names a natural choice.
Mythology also provided a vast supply of unique names, helping avoid confusion as more objects were discovered.
These names often carried symbolic meaning and gave the objects a cultural context.
For example, Artemis was named after the Greek goddess of the hunt.
Only later did astronomers begin to use more diverse naming conventions, including names of people and places.
Historically celestial body’s have got Greek or Roman names, because, you know, they were named by the Greeks and Romans (Arabs also, many stars names are derived from Arabic)