econdary characteristics
Main articles: Natural satellite and ring system
The rings of Saturn
Several planets or dwarf planets in the Solar System (such as Neptune and Pluto) have orbital periods that are
in resonance with each other or with smaller bodies. This is common in satellite systems (e.g. the resonance between
Io, Europa, and Ganymede around Jupiter, or between Enceladus and Dione around Saturn). All except Mercury and
Venus have natural satellites, often called "moons". Earth has one, Mars has two, and the giant planets have
numerous moons in complex planetary-type systems. Except for Ceres and Sedna, all the consensus dwarf planets
are known to have at least one moon as well. Many moons of the giant planets have features similar to those on the
terrestrial planets and dwarf planets, and some have been studied as possible abodes of life (especially Europa and
Enceladus).[141][142][143][144][145]
The four giant planets are orbited by planetary rings of varying size and complexity. The rings are composed primarily
of dust or particulate matter, but can host tiny 'moonlets' whose gravity shapes and maintains their structure.
Although the origins of planetary rings are not precisely known, they are believed to be the result of natural satellites
that fell below their parent planets' Roche limits and were torn apart by tidal forces.[146][147] The dwarf planets
Haumea[148] and Quaoar also have rings.[149]
No secondary characteristics have been observed around exoplanets. The sub-brown dwarf Cha 110913−773444,
which has been described as a rogue planet, is believed to be orbited by a tiny protoplanetary disc,[150] and the sub-
brown dwarf OTS 44 was shown to be surrounded by a substantial protoplanetary disk of at least 10 Earth masses. [151]
History and etymology
Further information: History of astronomy and Timeline of Solar System astronomy
The idea of planets has evolved over the history of astronomy, from the divine lights of antiquity to the earthly objects
of the scientific age. The concept has expanded to include worlds not only in the Solar System, but in multitudes of
other extrasolar systems. The consensus as to what counts as a planet, as opposed to other objects, has changed
several times. It previously encompassed asteroids, moons, and dwarf planets like Pluto,[152][153][154] and there continues
to be some disagreement today.[154]
Ancient civilizations and classical planets
The motion of 'lights' moving across the sky is the basis of the
classical definition of planets: wandering stars.
The five classical planets of the Solar System, being visible to the naked eye, have been known since ancient times
and have had a significant impact on mythology, religious cosmology, and ancient astronomy. In ancient times,
astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky, as opposed to the "fixed stars", which maintained a
constant relative position in the sky.[155] Ancient Greeks called these lights πλάνητες ἀστέρες (planētes
asteres) 'wandering stars' or simply πλανῆται (planētai) 'wanderers'[156] from which today's word "planet" was derived.
[157][158][159]
In ancient Greece, China, Babylon, and indeed all pre-modern civilizations,[160][161] it was almost universally
believed that Earth was the center of the Universe and that all the "planets" circled Earth. The reasons for this
perception were that stars and planets appeared to revolve around Earth each day [162] and the apparently common-
sense perceptions that Earth was solid and stable and that it was not moving but at rest. [163]
Babylon
Main article: Babylonian astronomy
The first civilization known to have a functional theory of the planets were the Babylonians, who lived
in Mesopotamia in the first and second millennia BC. The oldest surviving planetary astronomical text is the
Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, a 7th-century BC copy of a list of observations of the motions of the planet
Venus, that probably dates as early as the second millennium BC. [164] The MUL.APIN is a pair of cuneiform tablets
dating from the 7th century BC that lays out the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets over the course of the year.
[165]
Late Babylonian astronomy is the origin of Western astronomy and indeed all Western efforts in the exact
sciences.[166] The Enuma anu enlil, written during the Neo-Assyrian period in the 7th century BC,[167] comprises a list
of omens and their relationships with various celestial phenomena including the motions of the planets. [168]
[169]
Venus, Mercury, and the outer planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were all identified by Babylonian astronomers.
These would remain the only known planets until the invention of the telescope in early modern times.[170]
Greco-Roman astronomy
See also: Ancient Greek astronomy
The ancient Greeks initially did not attach as much significance to the planets as the Babylonians. In the 6th and 5th
centuries BC, the Pythagoreans appear to have developed their own independent planetary theory, which consisted
of the Earth, Sun, Moon, and planets revolving around a "Central Fire" at the center of the
Universe. Pythagoras or Parmenides is said to have been the first to identify the evening star (Hesperos) and
morning star (Phosphoros) as one and the same (Aphrodite, Greek corresponding to Latin Venus),[171] though this had
long been known in Mesopotamia.[172][173] In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos proposed a heliocentric system,
according to which Earth and the planets revolved around the Sun. The geocentric system remained dominant until
the Scientific Revolution.[163]
By the 1st century BC, during the Hellenistic period, the Greeks had begun to develop their own mathematical
schemes for predicting the positions of the planets. These schemes, which were based on geometry rather than the
arithmetic of the Babylonians, would eventually eclipse the Babylonians' theories in complexity and
comprehensiveness and account for most of the astronomical movements observed from Earth with the naked eye.
These theories would reach their fullest expression in the Almagest written by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. So
complete was the domination of Ptolemy's model that it superseded all previous works on astronomy and remained
the definitive astronomical text in the Western world for 13 centuries. [164][174] To the Greeks and Romans, there were
seven known planets, each presumed to be circling Earth according to the complex laws laid out by Ptolemy. They
were, in increasing order from Earth (in Ptolemy's order and using modern names): the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the
Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.[159][174][175]
Medieval astronomy
Main articles: Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world and Indian astronomy
1660 illust
