Astronomy and planets

Calliope

New Member
I know that the inner planet names came from Roman and Greek mythology. But what about the planets Uranus and Pluto (although I guess it isn't a planet anymore ;)? Was Pluto really named after the dog? Also what is Uranus associated with?
 

Rhonda Tharp

Active Member
In Greek mythology, Gaia came out of the "nothingness" or void and became the Earth. She gave "birth" to Uranus and he became the stars/heavens. Gaia and Uranus had children, two of which were Chronos and Rhea - who go on to have Zeus and other gods...
 

Libros

Member
Pluto wasn't named after the dog.

Venetia Burney was a UK schoolgirl and suggested the name Pluto for the god of the underworld when it was discovered in 1930.
 

Diana

Member
That is information I was not aware of the origin of the names Uranus and Pluto. But what was Pluto the dog named after, is that known yet?
 

magickz

Active Member
If you go from the Wiki page its directly from the planet which does make sense when you think about when the dog came about time line wise. I still love him, goofy as all and he fully reminds me of my own pup. My pup of course is almost seven now but still puppy and clumsy like.

Naming

The pup first appeared in Walt Disney's short The Chain Gang[4], released in the USA on August 18, 1930. However, the dog had no name. In the next appearance on October 23, 1930, in The Picnic[5] the dog is named not Pluto, but Rover. It was in The Moose Hunt[6], released on May 8, 1931, that the dog is called Pluto the Pup, the studio's original name. A September 1931 model sheet for the character with that name is illustrated in Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons.[7]

Several months had passed between the naming of what was believed to have been the ninth planet, Pluto, on March 24, 1930, and the attachment of that name to the dog character. Venetia Burney (later Venetia Phair), who as an eleven-year-old schoolgirl had suggested the name Pluto for the planet, remarked in 2006: “The name had nothing to do with the Disney cartoon. Mickey Mouse's dog was named after the planet, not the other way around.”[8]

Although it has been claimed that the Disney studio named the dog after the planet (rather than after the mythical god of the underworld), this has not been verified. Disney animator Ben Sharpsteen has said: "We thought the name [Rover] was too common, so we had to look for something else. [...] We changed it to Pluto the Pup, [...] but I don't honestly remember why."[9]
 
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