Why doesn't our moon have a name other than 'the moon'?

Question

That's dumb...

I'm not talking about some ancient pagan religion. I'm talking about an official name here...

I'm not talking about some ancient pagan religion. I'm talking about an official name here...

Answer 1

For the same reason that our sun has no name, it is simply the sun.

In astronomy, when we talk of "our" sun, we use the word Sun as its name (with a capital S). Same thing for the Moon.

The word sun (lower case) can be used to talk of other stars, especially when talking about possible planets around these other suns. The word moon (lower case) can be used to talk about satellites around other planets (like the moons of Jupiter).

There were efforts to give them "official names" with the best suggestions being the latinised: Sol and Luna (latin names for them). But it never caught on.

I suspect that if Earth had only one ocean, it would be called the Ocean.

I also suspect that if Earth had had more than one satellite, they would have proper names (just like our oceans do).

Answer 2

The Moon has no formal English name, although it is occasionally called Luna (Latin for "moon") to distinguish it from the generic "moon" (referring to any of the various natural satellites of other planets).

Called Luna by the Romans, Selene and Artemis by the Greeks, and many other names in other mythologies.

The Moon, of course, has been known since prehistoric times. It is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun.

There are two primary types of terrain on the Moon: the heavily cratered and very old highlands and the relatively smooth and younger maria. The maria (which comprise about 16% of the Moon's surface) are huge impact craters that were later flooded by molten lava. Most of the surface is covered with regolith, a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris produced by meteor impacts. For some unknown reason, the maria are concentrated on the near side.

Most of the craters on the near side are named for famous figures in the history of science such as Tycho, Copernicus, and Ptolemaeus. Features on the far side have more modern references such as Apollo, Gagarin and Korolev (with a distinctly Russian bias since the first images were obtained by Luna 3).

Answer 3

No. I inform you what: If we detect yet another moon interior the Earth's orbit, then we are going to provide them names. i could vote on the names "Left Testicle" and "actual Nut". "we've made a secure touchdown on the Left Testicle." "Now drawing near the terrific suited Nut." it may be the 1st time in an prolonged time the place the common guy would desire to snort at something bearing directly to NASA that did no longer contain harming something out in area.

Answer 4

For the same reason cows are called ruminats, not carnivores. Try other languages. Luna, Mond etc.

Answer 5

What's dumb is simply assuming that the moon has no other names. "Luna" is quite common.

Answer 6

It has other names such as Luna, or Diana

Answer 7

Because it's are planet witch has the moon and since we are more important then any other planet ours is "THE" Moon.

Answer 8

Yes it does. It's name is Selene (according to the Greek
Mythology.)

Answer 9

You can call it Luna, didn't you know? That ain't dumb.

Answer 10

our moon is called luna.