Is it true that "Uranus" used to be called "George"?
126025
Uranus was named after a figure in mythology as were the other planets.\nHerschel who discovered the planet in 1781, wanted to name it after King George, but he was of course forced to comply with protocol and choose an appropriate name from Mythology.\nUranus was the son of Gaia the earth goddess, and was the god of the sky.
627802
It does. It is often called by it's greek name "Luna".
133080
Copernicus - his theory was that the sun is the centre of the unoiverse and that all other heavenly bodies revolve around it
545981
The only names I can think of that are close are Polybius and Polycarpus.   Polybius was a Greek historian ca. 200 BC, and St. Polycarp was an early Catholic martyr (aD 155).  I suspect that it is probably in reference to the latter, if the name is in church registers.  The Latinized version of Polycarp is Polycarpus.  The name was in use in the medieval period, and I know a Mexican family who used the name Polycarpo as a first name for several generations.  We don't use it here in America, though.
24858
These are good questions. I do not think anyone knows exactly, but I have heard the conjecture often that Pluto is an escaped moon or a captured planet from somewhere else, and was not present at the formation of the Solar System. Also it is possible that Pluto's strange orbit is the result of some collision. \n\nThe rotational angular momentum of Uranus is quite different from the other planets. It's rotational axis is tilted significantly from the orthogonal to the ecliptic (plane of orbits of most planets), and it is said to rotate in the "opposite" sense to earth and the sun and some of the other planets. However, since the tilt of Uranus' rotational axis is roughly 97.92 degrees, I do not know how strongly I would want to assert that it rotates in the opposite or retrograde sense to most of the other bodies in the solar system. Again, this could be caused by a collision. In one of the attached references, it is claimed that this could be caused by a tidal effect, but it is hard for me to understand how. \n\nIt turns out that both Pluto and Venus also rotate in a retrograde sense, so it is not that uncommon, although theories of the origin of the solar system imply that one would not expect a lot of deviations of angular momentum from the major direction of angular momentum in the system. In the case of our system, especially given the orbits of the planets with small inclinations to the ecliptic, and the very large angular momenta of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, this is basically correct. \n\nNeptune is probably called the blue planet because it is blue, although of course Uranus and Earth are blue as well (for different reasons). Neptune's blue is at least partly caused by the presence of methane in its atmosphere.
258359
I have NEVER heard of such a thing. It'd be better for you if you provided actual sources instead of spreading false information.\n\nGoogle pulls up nothing with that name. WHERE you come up with these things?
140444
In the last few years of the 18 cetury (I estimate between 1793-1799) Baron Franz Xaver von Zach ordered a group of 24 astronomers to find a "missing planet" (the planet we know now as neptune) to solve the mystery of uranus's strange rotation.  However, the first asteroid discovered, 1 ceres, was discovered by accident by Giuseppe Piazzi.  Later, there were several other found.  The ammount keep going on through today!
238285
once we've got this senior by the name of Fanny D!ck i'm not joking! i came across a parcel with a name mr.stickboner at the post office! when i was senior in high school,we've got this junior by the name of george bush!but he transfered just after a few weeks.hm..homeschool?haha.just guessing.peace out
328998
when george is no longer in office
455510
yes of course it matters to me .it belonged to our solar system for so long and now the scientists have thrown it away because it does not satisfy their definition of planets???\nit is very disheartening to say that our family now consists of 8 planets only.
19196
GREAT QUESTION!!!!\n\nThe Kuiper Belt is the "leftovers" from when the Solar System was formed. It exists out past the orbit of Neptune.\n When our Solar System was forming out of an interstellar cloud, most of the matter was gravitationally pulled to the center. This caused the center to heat up until fusion began and our Sun was born. What was left behind began spinning around the new Sun and eventually became the nine planets, asteroids, and moons that make up our stellar home. \n There is an Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter that is made up of mainly rocky objects, but this is not the Kuiper Belt. As the Sun became hotter and hotter, it actually "melted * " all of the ice in the inner Solar system and pushed it out to the outer solar system along with most of the excess gas and dust left over from the Sun's creation. What was left in the inner Solar System was the rocky-- or terrestrial(Earth-like)-- planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth-Moon, Mars and the Asteriod Belt. \nThe ices, and gas that was pushed out farther became the four gas giants-- or Jovian(Jupiter-like)-- planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and all of the icey Moons that orbit them. \nIf the theory is correct, that why Jupiter has most of the excess mass left over from the Sun's creation at that part of the Solar System. It was far enough- and cold enough away from the Sun for the ice to become solid enough again. The cooler gas, collapsed down to become mostly Jupiter at that distance from the Sun. (That's why it was such a big surprise to discover Jupiter + sized planets around other stars at distances very close to their sun.) The rest of this gas became Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. \nFarther out than Neptune, the only things left were unmodified (not melted) ices. \nTHAT'S THE KUIPER BELT!\n It's believed to be another "asteroid belt" of sorts, but it is made up of mainly "dirty ice" which is mainly different kinds of ice and water ice with rocks and dust--think of it as dirt-- thrown in.(Astronomers can't just call something as simple as dirt, dirt, so they call it dust. Dust includes stuff like dirt, rocks, and anything else you might find in an interstellar cloud.) \n That is what Pluto and it's Moons are made of, as well as the recently discovered objects that are a little smaller than Pluto, and the one they found that is larger.\n That's why people are now questioning whether Pluto should be called a planet, because there are probably millions of these "Trans-Neptune objcts" out there waiting to be discovered. These little snowballs are of interest because they are basically undisturbed relics from before the Sun existed and can tell us quite a bit about the early Solar System, the Earth, and us!\n These ices should be different for the icy moons of Jupiter, Saturn, etc. because they weren't melted and pushed out away from the Sun. They were always far away beyond the orbit of Neptune and left undisturbed. \nStick around for the next 9 1/2 years as our Pluto spacecraft flys out there and notice all of the other discoveries of new Kuiper Belt Objects in the years before it arrives!!!\n ------------------------------------------------\n* Ice can't "melt" in the vacuum of space, so it goes straight from a solid to a gas. (We call solid water, for example, ice, and gaseous water, water vapor.)
623234
actually it's 555-VENUS.not VENUS-1234 and george and jane's anniversary is on june 2nd,also they live on earth in a utopia in the 23rd century
158811
The term "America" is not the formally correct name for anything in particular.  You're right: the name comes from Amerigo Vespucci.  If I remember correctly some French guy started calling the western hemisphere America, after that Vespucci dude's name, and it caught on.  An alternative name for the western hemisphere is "Columbia," as in Washington, District of Columbia or the South American country called by the Spanish version of the name "Colombia."  I guess somewhere along the line people started shortening the name United States of America to simply America.  Then that caught on.  I don't know why those people didn't just shorten it to USA.  Anyhow, I think when most people these days say "America" what they mean is USA.  Of course the case could be different in a few hundred years.  It's funny how language evolves, huh?
273581
Simple Answer:\n\nCosmologist and Astronomers really don't know, but they have theories. \n\nThe predominant theory is called the nebular hypothesis. It states that our solar system was once a cloud of nebular dust and debris. As the gravity of this dust began to overcome the angular momentum of the cloud (somehow) it began to swirl and contract and the entire cloud all swirled in the same direction. Over time clumps started to form and build as the clumps gravity became stronger. The center clump of the cloud became our sun and all the other little clumps became the planets. \n\nThere are many problems with this theory, but that goes for a lot of scientific theories.\n\nA planet could very well circle in the other direction but it would have to be hit with force greater than the force of it initially being pushed when the swirling cloud began. In fact some planets to rotate differently than ours and I believe uranus is tilted completely on it's back relative to it's poles. Several small moons also rotate backwards. The theory being that large astronomical objects hit them and caused them to go retrograde.\n\nbut remember, these are all theories.\n\nHope this helps.
217720
Venus could be thought of as simply upside down. Something might have knocked it over. Current thinking in the field says that Venus was hit with a "mini planet" during formation and violently knocked over. Uranus might have suffered a similar blow (it is rotating perpendicular to the solar system, rolling on it's side). Crater evidence supports the existence of large mini-planets in the early days of our solar system. Some of these are the moons of the outer planets. Our own moon may be the result of such a collision with earth that flung material into orbit (everything may have been molten at this time). No one knows for sure. Venus also has a 3:2 rotational period with earth's orbit with the sun. Some think that this is due to a tidal resonance. Mercury also has a 3:2 proportion day to year. This resonance may also cause a wobble (earth wobbles due to the moon's tidal resonance), but it is unlikely this was strong enough to cause Venus's retrograde rotation.
331870
These are actually names??\n\nOkay, ERGONUS,  Erroneous  Ignorant Gone
17123
Many of the obvious celestial bodies have names which are carried over from tradition and history.  Examples include Terra (the Earth), Luna (the moon), Sol (the sun), Neptune, Venus, Mars, etc.  You'll note many of these carry the names of Greek gods.  However, today the International Astronomical Union uses a variety of naming conventions to assign proper names to the objects in our universe.  When a new object is observed, the Union uses its rules to name it so that scientists around the world can use a 'common language' when discussing it.  Examples of star names include Polaris (the North Star, located at the Celestial North Pole), Proxima Centauri (the closest known star) and Wolf 359, a real star system that was chosen as the site for a legendary battle with the Borg in the 'Star Trek' universe.  You might read the link in the 'sources' section for more information.\nPS: Websites that let you 'name a star' are purely cosmetic and the assigned names are in no way recognized by the Union or printed in academic star charts.  You would be better off using a desktop publishing program and designing a nice 'plaque' yourself if you wanted to make a gag gift.