All Questions
8 questions
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Who named "the 37 cluster" or at least made that name widely known via writing?
The March 29, 2024 Veritasium video Why is this number everywhere? is about an apparent prevalence of the number 37 (for at least some people, including ) and in a montage of instances of 37 it shows &...
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1
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Planets Named After Roman Gods, Except Earth
I’ve looked this up, but not necessarily sure the internet has the right answer. Why are the planets in our solar system named after Roman gods, except Earth, and why is only one of the nine planets ...
- 11
4
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1
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411
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What is the brightest nameless star?
Bright stars in the night sky traditionally have their own proper names, like "Sirus" or "Canopus".
Most stars don't have names, but instead catalogue identifiers, like the Bayer ...
5
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1
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Why were the Magellanic Clouds named that way?
From the Wikipedia article, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds were observed prior to Magellan's expedition, and the name only stuck long after Magellan's expedition (at first, they were called ...
- 17.7k
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Why are Uranus' satellites named after characters in Shakespeare?
Oberon, Titania, Ophelia, Puck, Miranda... Uranus' satellites are named for characters in the works of Shakespeare and Pope. Yet the names of Jupiter and Saturn's moon come from the Roman and Greek ...
- 17.7k
2
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Why was the diaeresis removed from Pasiphae?
The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature notes that the spelling of Jupiter's moon Pasiphae was changed from Pasiphaë in July 2009, i.e. they removed the diaeresis. I've been unable to track down the ...
user24157
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Who first named the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn? [duplicate]
Who first named the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn?
Agnes Clerke's Catholic Encyclopedia article "Astronomy in the Bible" § Planets claims that "Venus and Saturn are the only ...
- 229
2
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2
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Which stars have been named after astronomers?
Most apparent stars have ancient names. But some of the newer (since 200 or so years) discoveries have been given the name of some prominent astronomer. Kapteyn's star is one example, and there are ...
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