Where'd That Moon Name Come From? Quiz

Answer: Io (Jupiter)

The first reported observations of the moons of Jupiter were made by Galileo Galilei on January 7, 1610. Simon Marius later developed the names for the first three moons, suggesting that they be named after lovers of Zeus, or his Roman equivalent Jupiter.

He made this suggestion in 1614, but the name of Io was not fully adopted until the mid-20th century. In mythology, Zeus had over ten lovers besides his wife Hera. Jupiter has a lot of moons, with more being found all the time. Over 60 of them are named after Zeus' lovers and his descendants.

The Galilean moons are called Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, all lovers of Zeus, including Ganymede who was a male lover of the god. Io was a mortal princess and lover of Zeus. According to many myths, she first rejected Zeus, but took up with him when her father threw her out.

She was turned into a cow at one point, but it isn't clear from the myths whether Zeus made the transformation to hide her from his wife Hera, or whether Hera made the transformation out of anger.

Answer: Phobos (Mars)

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. They were discovered and named by Asaph Hall in 1878. Phobos and Deimos were both sons of the Greek god Ares. The Roman equivalent of Ares is Mars, both of whom were gods of war. As sons of Ares, Phobos and Deimos were both gods of fear. According to Greek myths, they drove their father's chariot into wars, spreading fear as they went.

They were also sons of Aphrodite, so some myths suggest that they also represented the fear of loss.

Answer: Hyperion (Saturn)

Hyperion was discovered in 1848 by William Cranch Bond, his son George Phillips Bond and William Lassell. It is a non-round moon with a sponge-like appearance. In Greek mythology, Hyperion is the older brother of Cronus. Both are Titan sons of Uranus. According to Greek mythology, Hyperion is the god of lights in the heavens, having created Eos (the Dawn), Helios (the Sun), and Selene (the Moon).

Answer: Triton (Neptune)

The moon Triton orbits Neptune. It was discovered in 1846. It is named after the Greek sea god Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Poseidon is the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Neptune. Triton is unusual because it has a retrograde orbit. Unlike most other moons in our solar system that rotate in the same direction of their planets' orbit, Triton rotates opposite to Neptune's orbit.

In Greek mythology, Triton lived with his parents in the depths of the sea, often acting as his father Poseidon's messenger.

He is often portrayed with a conch shell, apparently used to help draw attention to his announcements.

Answer: Charon (Pluto)

Charon was discovered on June 22, 1978, by James Christy and Robert Harrington. In Greek mythology, Charon is responsible for transporting the dead across the Rivers Acheron and Styx to the underworld. The underworld was rules by Hades in Greek mythology, and by Pluto in Roman mythology. According to Greek mythology, Charon would transport the souls of the deceased across the Rivers Styx and Acheron where they would spend eternity.

The transportation could only happen after individuals received burial rites.

Answer: Dysnomia (moon of a dwarf planet)

In Greek mythology, Dysnomia was a daemon. She is associated with lawlessness and is often associated with other daemons such as Atė ("ruin"), Adikia (Injustice), and Hybris (Violence). Her mother is Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Dysnomia is a moon of the dwarf planet Eris. The dwarf planet was discovered on January 5, 2005. Dysnomia was discovered on September 10, 2005.

Answer: Pan (Saturn)

Pan is a moon of Saturn. In Greek mythology, he has the hindquarters and horns of a goat. He is responsible for guarding shepherds and their flocks, and is the god of fields and wooded areas. Pan is also often linked with fertility and Spring. The moon Pan is the innermost named moon of Saturn. Pan is considered a shepherd moon because it is responsible for moving particles out of the way in Saturn's ring system as it orbits the planet. Pan was discovered in 1990 after Voyager 2 photos were analyzed by astronomers.

Answer: Mimas (Saturn)

In Greek mythology, Saturn was the leader of the Titans, the generation before the gods. Mimas was a Titan and the son of Gaia. This moon was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. At only 396 kilometres (246 mi) in diameter, it is one of the smallest celestial objects that is known to be round because of its own gravitational pull.

In Greek mythology, Mimas was a Giant who was born from the blood of the castrated Uranus. According to the mythology, it seems that Mimas was killed during the Gigantomachy, or the battle between the Giants and the Twelve Olympians.

Answer: Namaka (moon of a possible dwarf planet)

This is the only non-Greek mythological question on this quiz. It seems that in the 21st century, scientists have been breaking from the tradition of naming planets and moons after Greek and Roman gods. Namaka was discovered in 2005. It rotates what scientists call a "possible dwarf planet" named Haumea, the goddess of fertility and childbirth in Hawaiian mythology. Namaka is the goddess of the sea in Hawaiian mythology and the daughter of Haumea. Observations have been limited in the early part of the 21st century, but it is thought that Namaka is very small. Haumea has two moons, Hiʻiaka (another daughter of the Hawaiian goddess), and Namaka, with Namaka being the smallest of the two. According to Hawaiian myth, Haumea's children were born from her various body parts. Hi'iaka came from Haumea's mouth, and Namaka came from Haumea's thigh.

Answer: Hydra (Pluto)

In Greek mythology, the Hydra was a nine-headed monster bred by Hera to kill Hercules. In our solar system, Hydra is a very small irregularity shaped moon of Pluto. It has a very interesting naming tradition. The nine heads of the serpent hint at the fact that when this moon was named, Pluto was the ninth planet from the sun.

As well, two of Pluto's moons were named using "N" (Nix) and "H" (Hydra") in honour of the New Horizons space program. The H in Hydra also honours the Hubble Space telescope.

Interestingly, the first two letters in Pluto match the initials of Percival Lowell, an astronomer who searched for (but didn't find before he died) the distant dwarf planet.