924
Lectures Watched
Since January 1, 2014
Since January 1, 2014
- A History of the World since 1300 (68)
- History of Rock, 1970-Present (50)
- A Brief History of Humankind (48)
- Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science (35)
- The Modern World: Global History since 1760 (35)
- The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future (28)
- Introduction aux éthiques philosophiques (27)
- Jesus in Scripture and Tradition (25)
- Roman Architecture (25)
- Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender (23)
- Descubriendo la pintura europea de 1400 a 1800 (22)
- Introduction aux droits de l'homme (19)
- Buddhism and Modern Psychology (18)
- Calvin: Histoire et réception d'une Réforme (17)
- The Ancient Greeks (16)
- À la découverte du théâtre classique français (15)
- The French Revolution (15)
- Letters of the Apostle Paul (14)
- Key Constitutional Concepts and Supreme Court Cases (14)
- Christianisme et philosophie dans l'Antiquité (14)
- Egiptología (12)
- Western Music History through Performance (10)
- The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact On Pop Culture (9)
- The Great War and Modern Philosophy (9)
- Alexander the Great (9)
- Greek and Roman Mythology (9)
- Human Evolution: Past and Future (9)
- Phenomenology and the Conscious Mind (9)
- Masterpieces of World Literature (8)
- Villes africaines: la planification urbaine (8)
- Greeks at War: Homer at Troy (7)
- Pensamiento Científico (7)
- MongoDB for Node.js Developers (7)
- Fundamentos de la escritura en español (7)
- Introduction to Psychology (7)
- Programming Mobile Applications for Android (7)
- The Rooseveltian Century (6)
- Karl der Große - Pater Europae (6)
- Fake News, Facts, and Alternative Facts (6)
- Reason and Persuasion Through Plato's Dialogues (6)
- The Emergence of the Modern Middle East (6)
- A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior (6)
- Lingua e cultura italiana: avanzata (6)
- L'avenir de la décision : connaître et agir en complexité (5)
- Understanding Einstein: The Special Theory of Relativity (5)
- Dinosaur Paleobiology (5)
- Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (5)
- War for the Greater Middle East (4)
- Emergence of Life (4)
- Introduction to Public Speaking (4)
- The Kennedy Half Century (4)
- Problèmes métaphysiques à l'épreuve de la politique, 1943-1968 (4)
- Designing Cities (4)
- Western Civilization: Ancient and Medieval Europe (3)
- Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution (3)
- Orientierung Geschichte (3)
- Moons of Our Solar System (3)
- Introduction à la philosophie de Friedrich Nietzsche (3)
- Devenir entrepreneur du changement (3)
- La Commedia di Dante (3)
- History of Rock and Roll, Part One (3)
- Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life (3)
- Initiation à la programmation en Java (3)
- La visione del mondo della Relatività e della Meccanica Quantistica (3)
- The Music of the Beatles (3)
- Analyzing the Universe (3)
- Découvrir l'anthropologie (3)
- Postwar Abstract Painting (3)
- The Science of Religion (2)
- La Philanthropie : Comprendre et Agir (2)
- Highlights of Modern Astronomy (2)
- Materials Science: 10 Things Every Engineer Should Know (2)
- The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome (2)
- Lingua e letteratura in italiano (2)
- Gestion des aires protégées en Afrique (2)
- Géopolitique de l'Europe (2)
- Introduction à la programmation en C++ (2)
- Découvrir la science politique (2)
- Our Earth: Its Climate, History, and Processes (2)
- The European Discovery of China (2)
- Understanding Russians: Contexts of Intercultural Communication (2)
- Philosophy and the Sciences (2)
- Søren Kierkegaard: Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity (2)
- The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem (2)
- The Science of Gastronomy (2)
- Galaxies and Cosmology (2)
- Introduction to Classical Music (2)
- Art History for Artists, Animators and Gamers (2)
- L'art des structures 1 : Câbles et arcs (2)
- Russian History: from Lenin to Putin (2)
- The World of Wine (1)
- Wine Tasting: Sensory Techniques for Wine Analysis (1)
- William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place (1)
- The Talmud: A Methodological Introduction (1)
- Switzerland in Europe (1)
- The World of the String Quartet (1)
- Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1)
- El Mediterráneo del Renacimiento a la Ilustración (1)
- Science of Exercise (1)
- Социокультурные аспекты социальной робототехники (1)
- Russian History: from Lenin to Putin (1)
- The Rise of China (1)
- The Renaissance and Baroque City (1)
- Visualizing Postwar Tokyo (1)
- In the Night Sky: Orion (1)
- Oriental Beliefs: Between Reason and Traditions (1)
- The Biology of Music (1)
- Mountains 101 (1)
- Moral Foundations of Politics (1)
- Mobilité et urbanisme (1)
- Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (1)
- Making Sense of News (1)
- Magic in the Middle Ages (1)
- Introduction to Italian Opera (1)
- Intellectual Humility (1)
- The Computing Technology Inside Your Smartphone (1)
- Human Origins (1)
- Miracles of Human Language (1)
- From Goddard to Apollo: The History of Rockets (1)
- Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1)
- Handel’s Messiah and Baroque Oratorio (1)
- Theater and Globalization (1)
- Gestion et Politique de l'eau (1)
- Une introduction à la géographicité (1)
- Frontières en tous genres (1)
- Créer et développer une startup technologique (1)
- Découvrir le marketing (1)
- Escribir para Convencer (1)
- Anthropology of Current World Issues (1)
- Poetry in America: Whitman (1)
- Introducción a la genética y la evolución (1)
- Shakespeare: On the Page and in Performance (1)
- The Civil War and Reconstruction (1)
- Dinosaur Ecosystems (1)
- Développement durable (1)
- Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us (1)
- Imagining Other Earths (1)
- Learning How to Learn (1)
- Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics (1)
- Web Intelligence and Big Data (1)
- Andy Warhol (1)
- Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life (1)
- Practicing Tolerance in a Religious Society (1)
- Subsistence Marketplaces (1)
- Physique générale - mécanique (1)
- Exercise Physiology: Understanding the Athlete Within (1)
- Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1)
- What Managers Can Learn from Great Philosophers (1)
- A la recherche du Grand Paris (1)
- The New Nordic Diet (1)
- A New History for a New China, 1700-2000 (1)
- The Magna Carta and its Legacy (1)
- The Age of Jefferson (1)
- History and Future of Higher Education (1)
- Éléments de Géomatique (1)
- 21st Century American Foreign Policy (1)
- The Law of the European Union (1)
- Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society (1)
- Introduction to Data Science (1)
- Configuring the World (1)
- From the Big Bang to Dark Energy (1)
- Animal Behaviour (1)
- Programming Mobile Services for Android Handheld Systems (1)
- The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art (1)
- Care of Elders with Alzheimer's Disease (1)
- Contagious: How Things Catch On (1)
- Constitutional Law - The Structure of Government (1)
- Narratives of Nonviolence in the American Civil Rights Movement (1)
- Christianity: From Persecuted Faith to Global Religion (200-1650) (1)
- Age of Cathedrals (1)
- Controversies of British Imperialism (1)
- Big History: From the Big Bang until Today (1)
- Bemerkenswerte Menschen (1)
- The Art of Poetry (1)
- Superpowers of the Ancient World: the Near East (1)
- America Through Foreign Eyes (1)
- Advertising and Society (1)
Hundreds of free, self-paced university courses available:
my recommendations here
my recommendations here
Peruse my collection of 275
influential people of the past.
influential people of the past.
View My Class Notes via:




Receive My Class Notes via E-Mail:
Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info
Notes on video lecture:
Naming Moons
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on January 23, 2017 (go to class or lectures)


Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Jupiter, Huegens, Fenrir, Hercules, Gaia, Sicily, 1610, Ganymede, Desdemona, Pluto, Union, Arcas, nymph, umbra, Roman, Marius, Minos, Hades, Artemis, 1919, dog, cow, permanent, mythological, Tityos, provisional, castrated, ivory, Oceanus, Shakespeare, Lassell, sylph, Galileo, lovers, Hershel, Phobos
the right to name moons and features on their surfaces belongs to a body known as the International Astronomical (IAU)
founded in
if you find a new moon, you suggest a name to the IAU but they don't have to accept it
today, when a moon is discovered
it is given a name, e.g. S/2005 P1
S = Satellite
2005 = year of discovery
P = primary body, in this case, Pluto
1 = first moon of discovered that year
later when the discovery has been confirmed, the IAU gives it an official, name
in this case, S/2005 P1 became Hydra
named after the snake-headed monster killed by
but why Hydra
when a new moon is discovered, it is given a name that fits in with the theme for names that have already been chosen for moons of that planet
moons of Pluto are named after figures with a connection to
started this tradition
when he discovered the first four moons of , there were no rules about naming moons
he used numerals, so we had Jupiter I, Jupiter II, etc.
Simon , a rival of Galileo
proposed a theme
since the planet was named after the Roman god Jupiter, or Zeus, why not name the moons after the of Zeus
discovered in
Io
mortal lover of Zeus
ancestor of Hercules
Hera turned her into a
Europa
mother of King of Crete
abducted by Zeus in the form of a white bull
mentioned in Iliad
homeland was Troy
son of Tros
abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle
Homer describes him as the most beautiful of mortals
Callisto
daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia
took a vow to remain a virgin
to have sex with her, Zeus disguised himself as (Diana) herself, in order to lure her into his embrace
Callisto was discovered pregnant and was then turned into a bear
gave birth to a son called
Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major, called Arktos [αρκτος], the "Bear" and Ursa Minor.
16 newer moons are named after other relations with Zeus, e.g.
1892 Amalthea
the most-frequently mentioned foster-mother of Zeus
located in Crete
1904 Himalia
a of the eastern end of the island of Rhodes, Zeus was enamoured with her and she produced three sons with him
1905 Elara
Zeus fell in love with Elara and hid her from his wife Hera's jealousy by placing her deep beneath the Earth. This was where she gave birth to , a giant who is sometimes said to be the son of Gaia, the Earth goddess, for this reason. It is further added that Elara died in labour because of the enormous size of her baby
1974 Leda
admired by Zeus, who seduced her in the guise of a swan
moons of Saturn
five largest moons were discovered by Christian (1629-1695)
and Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625-1712)
Huegens followed Galileo's conventions and gave the moons numbers rather than names
when Sir William Hershel (1738-1822) discovered two other moons of Saturn
also declined to name them
his son, Sir John , settled the matter
since Saturn was the Greek equivalent of Cronos, the leader of the Titans, Sir John named the largest moon Titan
the other moons were named after other Titans
Iapetus
son of Uranus and
father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius.
Tethys
daughter of Uranus and Gaia
wife of her brother the Titan-god
Dione
daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, hence an Oceanid, a water-nymph. She is otherwise called a daughter of Gaia
Rhea
daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, and sister and wife to Cronus
the two innermost moons were named after the Titan's half brothers, two giants
Mimas
Mimas was one of the Giants, the offspring of Gaia, born from the blood of the Uranus
Enceladus
one of the Giants, the offspring of Gaia (Earth), and Uranus (Sky). Enceladus was the traditional opponent of Athena during the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the gods, and was said to be buried under Mount Etna in
the pace of discovers meant that astronomers were running out of Greek and Roman names
so gods from other cultures are used
Norse
named after monstrous Norse wolf Fenrisulfr
Gallic
Inuit
Sir John Hershel
also discovered moons of Uranus, the planet discovered by his father
Uranus is the god of the air
took his inspiration from English literature
Oberon (1787)
Oberon, the king of the fairies in 's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Titania (1787)
Titania, the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ariel
named after the leading in The Rape of the Lock
also the name of the spirit who serves Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest
Umbriel
Umbriel is the "dusky melancholy sprite" in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, and the name suggests the Latin , meaning shadow
as more moons were discovered, they were named after characters in Shakespeare's plays
Ophelia
moon of Uranus
named after the daughter of Polonius in Hamlet
Cordelia
King Lear
Othello
Margaret
Much Ado About Nothing
Neptune's first moon
discovered by William (1799-1880) but he had nothing to do with naming it
naming duties fell to the French astronomer Camille Flammarion
carried on with the mythical theme
Neptune's moon was named Triton, the Greek sea god Triton [Τρίτων], the son of Poseidon (Neptune)
second moon
Nereid
named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology and attendants of the god Poseidon
later moons were also named after water spirits
Larissa
a nymph from Thessaly
Proteus
an early sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea"
Galatea [Γαλάτεια]
"she who is milk-white"
the statue carved of by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life
Mars
1887 tiny moons
("fear")
Deimos ("terror")
Phobos (panic/fear) and Deimos (terror/dread) accompanied their father Ares, god of war, into battle
dwarf planets
Pluto, the god of the underworld
moons are related to Hades
Charon [KAIR-on]
the boatman who ferried the dead across the river Styx
Kerberos
the many-headed
Hydra
the snake-headed monster
People:
![]() |
######################### (1573-1625) German astronomer who claimed to have discovered four major moons of Jupiter some days before Galileo Galilei
|
![]() |
######################### (1629-1695) Leading Dutch mathematician and scientist of his time whose work included early telescopic studies of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan, and the invention of the pendulum clock
|
Spelling Corrections:
spurios ⇒ spurious
plagerism ⇒ plagiarism
Ideas and Concepts:
Learned via this morning's Moons of the Solar System class:
"The International Astronomical Union frequently receives requests from individuals who want to buy stars or name stars after other persons. Some commercial enterprises purport to offer such services for a fee. However, such names have no formal or official validity whatsoever. Similar rules on buying names apply to star clusters and galaxies as well. For bodies in the Solar System, special procedures for assigning official names apply, but in no case are commercial transactions involved.
Thus, like true love and many other of the best things in human life, the beauty of the night sky is not for sale, but is free for all to enjoy. True, the gift of a star may open someone's eyes to the beauty of the night sky. This is indeed a worthy goal, but it does not justify deceiving people into believing that real star names can be bought like any other commodity."
"The International Astronomical Union frequently receives requests from individuals who want to buy stars or name stars after other persons. Some commercial enterprises purport to offer such services for a fee. However, such names have no formal or official validity whatsoever. Similar rules on buying names apply to star clusters and galaxies as well. For bodies in the Solar System, special procedures for assigning official names apply, but in no case are commercial transactions involved.
Thus, like true love and many other of the best things in human life, the beauty of the night sky is not for sale, but is free for all to enjoy. True, the gift of a star may open someone's eyes to the beauty of the night sky. This is indeed a worthy goal, but it does not justify deceiving people into believing that real star names can be bought like any other commodity."

Greek mythology and the moons of Pluto via this evening's Moons of the Solar System class:
"When a new moon is discovered in our Solar System, it is given a name that fits with the theme for names that have already been chosen for moons of that planet. Since Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld which corresponds to the Greek god Hades, it's first moon discovered in 1978 had to follow this theme.
The first moon Charon, discovered in 1978, was originally going to be called Persephone, an appropriate name as she is the wife of Hades after being abducted by him and taken to the underworld. But the wife of the man who discovered this moon, James Christy, was named Charlene and so Christy wanted to name the moon after her, and so settled on the similar sounding name Charon, the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.
Pluto's second moon, Hydra, discovered in 2005, was named after the many-headed serpentine water monster living in the the lake of Lerna, an entrance to the Hades' underworld. In the canonical Hydra myth, the monster is killed by Heracles, using sword and fire, as the second of his Twelve Labors.
The third moon, Nix, discovered in 2005 with Hydra, was named after the goddess of the night, Nyx, a shadowy figure who, at the beginning of creation, mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by Zeus himself. The moon's name is spelled Nix to avoid confusion with the Mars-crosser asteroid 3908 Nyx.
In 2011, the fourth moon, Kerberos was discovered, and named after Cerberus, or the Hound of Hades, the monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. The moon's name is spelled Kerberos so that it is not confused with the near-Earth asteroid, 1865 Cerberus.
In 2012, the moon Styx was discovered, which is of course named after Styx, the river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld and together with the rivers Phlegethon (Dante's "river of blood"), Acheron (river of woe), Lethe (river of forgetfulness), and Cocytus (John Milton's "rueful stream") which all converge in a great marsh at the center of the Underworld."
"When a new moon is discovered in our Solar System, it is given a name that fits with the theme for names that have already been chosen for moons of that planet. Since Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld which corresponds to the Greek god Hades, it's first moon discovered in 1978 had to follow this theme.
The first moon Charon, discovered in 1978, was originally going to be called Persephone, an appropriate name as she is the wife of Hades after being abducted by him and taken to the underworld. But the wife of the man who discovered this moon, James Christy, was named Charlene and so Christy wanted to name the moon after her, and so settled on the similar sounding name Charon, the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.
Pluto's second moon, Hydra, discovered in 2005, was named after the many-headed serpentine water monster living in the the lake of Lerna, an entrance to the Hades' underworld. In the canonical Hydra myth, the monster is killed by Heracles, using sword and fire, as the second of his Twelve Labors.
The third moon, Nix, discovered in 2005 with Hydra, was named after the goddess of the night, Nyx, a shadowy figure who, at the beginning of creation, mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by Zeus himself. The moon's name is spelled Nix to avoid confusion with the Mars-crosser asteroid 3908 Nyx.
In 2011, the fourth moon, Kerberos was discovered, and named after Cerberus, or the Hound of Hades, the monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. The moon's name is spelled Kerberos so that it is not confused with the near-Earth asteroid, 1865 Cerberus.
In 2012, the moon Styx was discovered, which is of course named after Styx, the river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld and together with the rivers Phlegethon (Dante's "river of blood"), Acheron (river of woe), Lethe (river of forgetfulness), and Cocytus (John Milton's "rueful stream") which all converge in a great marsh at the center of the Underworld."
