Published January 07, 2010
Since 1930, the number of planets in our solar system has been 9.
Some TTreaders might be familiar with My Very Energetic Mother Just Served Us Necterine Pie as a mnemonic device for the planets in their order from the Sun.
Well, now she just serves nectarines - Pluto was recently stripped of its status as a planet and given the consolation appellation of “dwarf planet”. (Something to do with the finding - and the potential of further findings - of other bodies in the far reaches of the solar system that would also “deserve” planet status. So the guidelines for Planet were changed, and Pluto was demoted.
Be that as it may, the planets that are visible to the naked eye have had Hebrew names for a long time. Mercury is CHAMA, Venus is NOGA, Earth is ERETZ, Mars is MA’DIM, Jupiter is TZEDEK, Saturn is SHAB’TAI.
Uranus and Neptune (and Pluto) had no Hebrew names - just Hebrew pronunciations of their “regular” names. This has just changed for Uranus and Neptune when the powers that be (as far as new Hebrew words and names) together with astronomers and an internet vote, came up with Hebrew names for these distant planets.
Uranus is ORON - , meaning little light (Uranus reflects relatively little light of the Sun at a distance of almost 3 billion km) and Neptune is RACHAV -, named for a sea monster of Jewish legend (consistent with the origin of the name Neptune).
BTW, planets in Hebrew are KOCHAVEI LECHET; singular: KOCHAV LECHET
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