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Baby Names Inspired by the Planets
Humans have been pondering the contents of space for millennia. The twinkly lights in the sky and the brilliant sweeps of color spotted when there’s no light pollution are considered to be some of the most beautiful sights in the world. If you’re on the top, bottom, or anywhere in between in the world, the beauty provided by the planets of the solar system is a universal truth. A planetary baby boy, girl, or gender-neutral name will give baby as much of the universe as you can.
Explore Baby Girl and Boy Names Inspired by the Planets
Planetary Fun Facts!
From the first to the eighth planet in our solar system—sorry, Pluto—there are almost too many fun facts. Saturn’s characteristic rings are actually made of mostly ice and rocky debris, but more interestingly, scientists aren’t sure how old these rings are! Though planets have a specific checklist to tick off to qualify as planets, having moons is not a part of those lists—as proven by Venus and Mercury. However, Mars has two and Saturn has over 60 moons! Lastly, Mercury—the closest planet to the sun—has permanently shadowed craters that enable this otherwise hot planet to have ice. There are so many fun facts offered up from the universe, it’s hard to know where to start. But a planetary baby name might point a person or two in the right direction.
What qualifies a planet?
Given the way Pluto has been identified, unidentified, and reidentified as a planet, you’re not the only one who’s at a loss when it comes to what makes a planet a planet! Though the planetary drama is real, typifying a galactic object as a planet is actually much easier than it seems. To be a planet, three boxes must be ticked; the celestial body must orbit a star, be a spherical shape forced by gravity, and it must have gravity so strong that it has deterred other objects of similar size in its orbit around the sun.
Is Pluto a planet? (Again?)
Pluto is an interesting subject. It is technically a planet, but it is now considered a dwarf planet. This was due to Pluto not meeting all three requirements set out by The International Astronomical Union. It orbits a star, it is a sphere, but it’s not what’s called “gravitationally dominant.” Pluto still has other objects in its galactic neighborhood, and, as a result, cannot be classified as anything but a dwarf planet.
