The Solar system

The Romans knew of seven bright objects in the sky, the Sun, the Moon and five planets. They named them after their most important gods. If you click on the Sun, Moon or planet name, you will go to an outside website so you can find out more information about the Solar System. If you want to return here, click on the Back button above. Click on the god's name will take you to my description of the god.

Name	Description	God
Sun	The Sun is the brightest object in the sky.	Apollo - God of Enlightenment
Moon	The Moon is the next brightest object.	Diana - Goddess of Hunting, sister of Apollo
Mercury	Fastest planet	Mercury - Messenger of the Gods
Venus	brightest planet	Venus - Goddess of Love
Mars	the red planet	Mars - God of War
Jupiter	largest planet	Jupiter - King of the Gods
Saturn	slowest planet	Saturn - God of Time

If you compare the gods in the Roman Solar System with the days of the week, you will see that they are the same. The days of the week are Saxon. They are named after the Sun, Moon and planets.

There are jewels and metals connected with the planets as well.

Planets discovered in modern times

Planet	Discovered	God	Why?
Uranus	1781	Uranus - Father of Saturn	next to Saturn and further out
Neptune	1846	Neptune - God of the Sea	blue planet
Pluto	1930	Pluto - God of Death	coldest planet and furthest from the Sun

The planet names are the names of Roman gods, except Uranus, who was a Greek god. You need a telescope to see these planets.

By 2006, astronomers had discovered other things in the solar system which were bigger than Pluto, so they decided to make Pluto a dwarf planet instead. This means that there are now 8 planets (including Earth) rather than 9.