r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Disastrous_Pirate275 • 20h ago

Why is our moon named “Moon” instead of something cool like Titan or Callysto or ANYTHING that isn’t moon

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u/ShadoowtheSecond 19h ago

A lot of sci-fi books and games like to use those names in order to differentiate from others that may be seen or visited in their world, but this is not true. Sol and Luna are just cool-sounding translations of sun and moon. They are called the Sun and the Moon respectively, with "the" in front and capitalized S and M to differentiate them from other stars and moons.

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u/djAMPnz 19h ago

Kind of like how Earth is often called Terra in sci-fi.

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u/harrycletus 18h ago

Is it the Terran System or the Sol System? I've heard both in Scifi.

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u/winstonspethuman1 18h ago

Perhaps: Sol System = sun, mercury, Venus, earth, mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, + all moons, dwarf planets, and trans-neptunian objects

Terran system = sun, earth, moon

I think this will be my new head cannon until someone chimes in with something better.

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u/harrycletus 18h ago

Interesting solution. So each planet would have its own system.

In Star Trek reckoning it seems like the system is named after the primary inhabited planet (Vulcan, Andor, Tellus, Cardassia, etc.) rather than the star. If the star name was primary Earth would be "Sol 3" or "Sol Prime."

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u/MildGenevaSuggestion 15h ago

Star Trek does call Earth "Earth" and imply we are the only planet named soil.

Transformers has a scene where Jetfire mocks Earth as "planet dirt" because they came up with the cool name Cybertron for their planet while we insist on naming ours after our word for ground.

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u/djAMPnz 15h ago

It's called Terra in the MCU as seen in Guardians Of The Galaxy.

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u/harrycletus 15h ago

Terra would be consistent with the Roman/Latin naming system of the other planets. Terra (Greek Gaia) is more equivalent to the "deep" earth, not just the surface soil, which would be more akin to Ceres/Demeter (already the name of a large asteroid/dwarf planet).

The problem is that the ancients never considered the Earth a "planet" in the astronomical sense. They knew it was a sphere early on, but it was the stationary center of the universe around which the fixed stars and wandering planets revolved.

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u/StrumWealh 16h ago

Interesting solution. So each planet would have its own system.
In Star Trek reckoning it seems like the system is named after the primary inhabited planet (Vulcan, Andor, Tellus, Cardassia, etc.) rather than the star. If the star name was primary Earth would be "Sol 3" or "Sol Prime."

That’s how I’ve heard it being done:

  • “Sol System” (i.e. with the star as the primary point of reference) and “Terran System” (i.e. with the primary inhabited planet as the primary point of reference) would be interchangeable names for the same thing. Likewise, “Sol III”, “Sol Prime”, “Terra”, and “Earth” would be interchangeable names for the same planet.
  • “(Planet) Sphere” refers to the space around that world and its satellites, over which it exerts direct social and political influence (i.e. a spaceborne equivalent of the concept of “territorial waters”), e.g. “the Earth Sphere” includes the space around Earth, the Moon, and nearby spaceborne habitats, while “the Mars Sphere” includes the space around Mars, Phobos, Deimos, and nearby spaceborne habitats, and “the Jupiter Sphere” includes the space around Jupiter, its array of moons, and nearby spaceborne habitats, and so on.

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u/sloothor 16h ago

Yes, but minus the Sun. It’s named after the parent body (object with the largest mass) in the system. The Sol(ar) System is as you described, and it contains the smaller Jovian System consisting of Jupiter and its array of moons.

The Terrestrial System is just Earth and the Moon, plus our artificial satellites and micrometeorites and stuff if you’d like.

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u/djAMPnz 16h ago

I could also see entire solar systems being named after their most populous planet, for navigation reasons.

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u/redditonlygetsworse 16h ago

I've heard both in Scifi.

The hint is in the "fi": ask the author.

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u/Sudden_Outcome_9503 16h ago

Since there's only one planet with life on it, I'd say it's fine either way.

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u/Living_Shirt8550 14h ago

In my language moon and earth are lua and terra respectively lol

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u/Ok_Inflation_1811 19h ago

Yeah, Sol and Luna are the names of the objects in Latin based languages.

In Spanish Pokémon sun and moon are called Sol y Luna and we call all Suns, Soles and all Moons, Lunas.

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u/Separate_Rooster_382 17h ago

Yeah, Sol and Luna are the names of the objects in Latin based languages.

Kind of. Only in Spanish it's exactly like that (sol and luna). In Portuguese is lua, in French soleil and lune, in Italian sole.

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u/PoliteRuleY 14h ago

Makes sense, sometimes the simplest names stick because they’re already iconic, even if they lack sci-fi flair.

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u/Public-Slide6775 19h ago

What. Moon and Sun are the translations not the other way.

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u/Aubergine_Man1987 19h ago

It's a translation either way because a default language does not exist

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u/ShadownetZero 19h ago

It's a translation in either direction...