Why is the planet Saturn named Saturn?

Question

What characteristic gave Saturn its name?

Answer 1

saturns name had nothing to do with its charactoristics at all,its named after a deity from ancient times, people beleived the planets (which at the time they didn even know thats what they were) were gods or at least made them symbolic of gods. saturn was one of them

Answer 2

In English, the planets bear names of gods in Roman mythology, a relic of the ancient belief that planets were gods controlling human destiny. They were sometimes considered to be living beings, and myths were created concerning how they came to be, and what they were supposed to be like, based on their movements in the sky, their physical characteristics, and the supposed influences they have on our planet and its inhabitants.

Saturn, now popularly known for its rings and for being the second largest planet, though the rings being difficult to discern even with modern house telescopes. The Roman naming was probably based on their (correct) assumption that Saturn was the furthest of the classical planets due to the length of its orbital period. The brightness being slightly less than Jupiter though brighter than most of the other planets. The Romans may have named it for the Titan that was formerly deposed by the now greater Jupiter.

In Hesiod's Theogeny, a mythological account of the creation of the universe and Zeus' rise to power, Saturn is mentioned as the son of Uranus, the heavens, and Gaia, the earth. Saturn seizes power, castrating and overthrowing his father Uranus. However, it was foretold that one day a mighty son of Saturn would in turn overthrow him, and Saturn devoured all of his children when they were born to prevent this. Saturn's wife, Ops, hid her sixth child on the island of Crete, and offered Saturn a large stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in his place. Jupiter later overthrew Saturn and the other Titans, becoming the new supreme ruler of the cosmos.

Answer 3

Zim's statement: " ...though the rings being difficult to discern even with modern house telescopes." is absolutely false! In fact, of all the giant planets (which all have rings), Saturn is the only one whose rings are EASY to see even with the cheapest commercial telescopes (with as little as 25x or 30x). Zim apparently has never tried to personally look at Saturn through any telescope, otherwise he would know what he posted was in error.

Answer 4

Saturn was the old man to the ancients. It was the planet that moved across the sky the slowest. At least that is what I was told, but I looked up another answer:

Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronos, god of farming and the father of Zeus/Jupiter. Some of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn. The newest satellites were named for Gallic (Gaul, or ancient France), Norse, and Inuit (Eskimo) giants.

SATELLITES: Pan (the half-human, half-goat god of pastoralism); Atlas (a Titan who held the heavens on his shoulders); Prometheus (a Titan who gave many gifts to humanity, including fire); Pandora (a woman who opened the box that loosed a host of plagues upon humanity); Janus (a two-faced Roman god who could look forward and backward at the same time); Epimetheus (a Greek backward-looking god); Mimas (a Titan felled by Hephaestus); Enceladus (a Titan killed by Athene); Tethys (the wife of Oceanus and mother of all rivers); Telesto (a water nymph); Calypso (a daughter of Atlas and paramour of Odysseus); Dione (a sister of Cronos); Helene (a daughter of Zeus); Rhea (a daughter of Cronos); Titan; Hyperion (a Titan); Iapetus (a Titan); Phoebe (another name for Artemis, goddess of the moon). Satellites discovered in 2000 are: Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Skadi, Albiorix, Erriapo, Siarnaq, Tarvos, Mundilfari, Suttung, Thrym, and Ymir. One more satellite, discovered in 2003, is yet to be named.

Answer 5

Actually in times very old the romans considered planets as good .One of them was saturn therefore they named as Saturn.Infact all the planets are named afted the roman gods .

maths lover
rishabh

Answer 6

Who Named The Planet Saturn

Answer 7

Saturn has the rings. BUT what really happen they drank fermented punch. THEy all got drunk and tried to drive the saturn off the used car lot.

Answer 8

From the Latin Saturnus, which is of unknown meaning. In Roman mythology he was the father of Jupiter, Juno and others, and was also the god of agriculture. This is also the name of the ringed sixth planet in the solar system.

Answer 9

The planet names are derived from Roman and Greek mythology, except for the name Earth which is Germanic and Old English in origin. The five planets easily visible with the unaided eye (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) have been observed for all human history as far as we can tell, and they were called different things by different cultures. The Romans named these planets according to their movements and appearence. For example, Venus, the planet that appears the brightest, was named after the Roman goddess of beauty, while the reddish Mars was named after the god of war. These Roman names were adopted by European languages and culture and became standard in science.

When Uranus and Neptune were discovered, there was not an established tradition in place so a few names were considered and used for each planet, until one name became standard. William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, wanted to name it "Georgium Sidus" after King George III. Other astronomers called it "Herschel" after the discoverer. The astronomer Johann Bode suggested that it would be more appropriate to use the mythological name Uranus, which would match with the five planets that were named in antiquity. Despite the suggestion, the name Uranus was not commonly used until 1850.

The existence of the planet Neptune was predicted by two astronomers (John Couch Adams and Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier), and when it was discovered with telescopes there was a debate about who should be allowed to name it. Leverrier actually wanted to name it after himself. However, the name Neptune was proposed and became the standard used by scientists.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. According to the Nine Planets Website, other names suggested for Pluto included Lowell, Atlas, Artemis, Perseus, Vulan, Tantalus, Idana, Cronus, Zymal and Minerva (suggested by the New York Times). The name Pluto was apparently suggested by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old from Oxford, England, and then recommended to astronomers by the observatory staff. Pluto won out, possibly because it's appropriate for the most distant world to be named after the god of the underworld.

Pluto's moon was named by its discoverer, James Christy, who found the moon in 1978 when studying photographic plates of Pluto. Apparently he wanted to name it after his wife, Charlene, but the nomenclature rules in astronomy wouldn't allow this. However, when he was looking for a different name he came across the Greek mythological figure Charon, which included the first part of his wife's name. Plus it was very appropriate since Charon was the ferryman who carried people to the underworld, which fits very well with the name of its planet, Pluto!

So who's in charge of naming solar system objects that are discovered now? Since its organization in 1919, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has been in charge of naming all celestial objects. When an astronomer discovers an object, or wants to name a surface feature, they can submit a suggestion to the IAU, and the IAU either approves it or suggests a different name.

Answer 10

Because Jupiter was the king of the gods and Saturn, the god of time, was his father. It just made sense to the folks back then.