Editing Planet (section)

===Symbols===
{{main|Planetary symbol}}
{| class="wikitable skin-invert" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; float:right; margin:10px"

|+ Most common planetary symbols
|- style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"
| Sun <br /> [[File:Sun symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|☉]] || Mercury <br /> [[File:Mercury symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|☿]] || Venus <br /> [[File:Venus symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|♀]] || Earth <br /> [[File:Earth symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🜨]] || Moon <br /> [[File:Moon symbol decrescent (fixed width).svg|14px|☾]] || Mars <br /> [[File:Mars symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|♂]] || Jupiter <br /> [[File:Jupiter symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|♃]] || Saturn <br /> [[File:Saturn symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|♄]] || Uranus <br /> [[File:Uranus symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⛢]] or [[File:Uranus monogram (fixed width).svg|14px|♅]] || Neptune <br /> [[File:Neptune symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|♆]]
|}
The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Mars have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyrus texts.<ref name=jones-1999>{{cite book
| last = Jones  | first = Alexander
| date = 1999
| title = Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
| pages = 62–63
| publisher = American Philosophical Society
| isbn = 978-0-87169-233-7
}}
</ref> The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as [[monogram]]s of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized [[caduceus]].<ref name=jones-1999/>

According to [[Annie Scott Dill Maunder]], antecedents of the planetary symbols were used in art to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. ''Bianchini's [[planisphere]]'', discovered by Francesco Bianchini in the 18th century but produced in the 2nd century,<ref name=imss>
{{cite web
| title = Bianchini's planisphere
| publisher = Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza [Institute and Museum of the History of Science]
| location = Florence, Italy
| url = https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html
| access-date = 20 August 2018 | url-status=live
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227062732/https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html
| archive-date=27 February 2018 }}
</ref> shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols. Mercury has a [[caduceus]]; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the [[Sun]], a [[circlet]] with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.<ref name=maunder>
{{cite magazine
| last = Maunder  | first = A.S.D.
| date = 1934
| title = The origin of the symbols of the planets
| magazine = The Observatory
| volume = 57 | pages = 238–247
| bibcode = 1934Obs....57..238M
}}
</ref> The modern shapes with the cross-marks first appeared around the 16th century. According to Maunder, the addition of crosses appears to be "an attempt to give a savour of Christianity to the symbols of the old pagan gods."<ref name=maunder/> Earth itself was not considered a classical planet; its symbol descends from a pre-heliocentric symbol for the [[four corners of the world]].<ref name=high-school-astronomy>
{{cite book
 | last = Mattison | first = Hiram
 | date = 1872
 | title = High-School Astronomy
 | pages = 32–36
 | publisher = Sheldon & Co.
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XksAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32
}}
</ref>

When further planets were discovered orbiting the Sun, symbols were invented for them. The most common astronomical symbol for Uranus, ⛢,<ref name=iancu/> was invented by [[Johann Gottfried Köhler]], and was intended to represent the newly discovered metal [[platinum]].<ref name=bode-uranus>{{cite book
| title = Von dem neu entdeckten Planeten
| publisher = Beim Verfaszer
| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZqA5AAAAcAAJ
| last = Bode  | first = J.E.
| date = 1784
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZqA5AAAAcAAJ/page/n98 95]–96
| bibcode = 1784vdne.book.....B
}}
</ref><ref name=gould-uranus>
{{cite book
| title = Report on the history of the discovery of Neptune
| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uyANAQAAIAAJ
| last = Gould  | first = B.A.
| publisher = Smithsonian Institution
| date = 1850
| pages = 5, 22
}}</ref> An alternative symbol, ♅, was invented by [[Jérôme Lalande]], and represents a globe with a H on top, for Uranus's discoverer Herschel.<ref name=Francisca>{{Cite journal |title=The meaning of the symbol H+o for the planet Uranus |author=Francisca Herschel|date=August 1917|journal=The Observatory |volume=40 |page=306 |bibcode=1917Obs....40..306H}}</ref> Today, ⛢ is mostly used by astronomers and ♅ by [[astrology|astrologers]], though it is possible to find each symbol in the other context.<ref name=iancu>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09300-uranus.pdf|title=Proposal to Encode the Astronomical Symbol for Uranus|last=Iancu|first=Laurentiu|date=14 August 2009|website=unicode.org|access-date=12 September 2022|archive-date=2 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002155531/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09300-uranus.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The first few asteroids were considered to be planets when they were discovered, and were likewise given abstract symbols, e.g. Ceres' sickle (⚳), Pallas' spear (⚴), Juno's sceptre (⚵), and Vesta's hearth (⚶). However, as their number rose further and further, this practice stopped in favour of numbering them instead. (Massalia, the first asteroid not named from mythology, is also the first asteroid that was not assigned a symbol by its discoverer.) The symbols for the first four asteroids, Ceres through Vesta, remained in use for longer than the others,<ref name=asteroids/> and even in the modern day [[NASA]] has used the Ceres symbol—Ceres being the only asteroid that is also a dwarf planet.<ref name=miller/> Neptune's symbol (♆) represents [[Neptune's trident|the god's trident]].<ref name=gould-uranus/> The astronomical symbol for Pluto is a P-L monogram (♇),<ref name="JPL/NASA Pluto's Symbol">
{{cite web
 |title=NASA's Solar System Exploration: Multimedia: Gallery: Pluto's Symbol
 |url=http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=263
 |publisher=NASA
 |access-date=29 November 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001015053/http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=263
 |archive-date=1 October 2006
}}</ref> though it has become less common since the IAU definition reclassified Pluto.<ref name=miller/> Since Pluto's reclassification, NASA has used the traditional astrological symbol of Pluto (⯓), a planetary orb over Pluto's [[bident]].<ref name=miller/>

{| class="wikitable skin-invert" style="margin:1em auto 1em auto; float:right; margin:10px"
|- style="background:#ccf; font-size:smaller;"
|+ Some rarer planetary symbols in Unicode
|- style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"
| Earth <br /> [[File:Globus cruciger (fixed width).svg|14px|♁]] || Vesta <br /> [[File:Vesta symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⚶]] || Juno <br /> [[File:Juno symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⚵]] || Ceres <br /> [[File:Ceres symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⚳]] || Pallas <br /> [[File:Pallas symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⚴]] || Hygiea <br /> [[File:Hygiea symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⯚]] || Orcus <br /> [[File:Orcus symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🝿]] || Pluto <br /> [[File:Pluto monogram (fixed width).svg|14px|♇]] or [[File:Pluto symbol (large orb, fixed width).svg|14px|⯓]] || Charon <br /> [[File:Charon symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⯕]] || Haumea <br /> [[File:Haumea symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🝻]] || Quaoar <br /> [[File:Quaoar symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🝾]] || Makemake <br /> [[File:Makemake symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🝼]] || Gonggong <br /> [[File:Gonggong symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|🝽]] || Eris <br /> [[File:Eris symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⯰]] || Sedna <br /> [[File:Sedna symbol (fixed width).svg|14px|⯲]]
|}
The IAU discourages the use of planetary symbols in modern journal articles in favour of one-letter or (to disambiguate Mercury and Mars) two-letter abbreviations for the major planets. The symbols for the Sun and Earth are nonetheless common, as [[solar mass]], [[Earth mass]], and similar units are common in astronomy.<ref name=iau-style-manual >{{cite book
| title = The IAU Style Manual
| url = http://www.iau.org/static/publications/stylemanual1989.pdf
| date = 1989
| page = 27
| access-date = 8 August 2022
| archive-date = 26 July 2011
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726170213/http://www.iau.org/static/publications/stylemanual1989.pdf
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Other planetary symbols today are mostly encountered in astrology. Astrologers have resurrected the old astronomical symbols for the first few asteroids and continue to invent symbols for other objects.<ref name=miller>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21224-dwarf-planet-syms.pdf|title=Unicode request for dwarf-planet symbols|last=Miller|first=Kirk|date=26 October 2021|website=unicode.org|access-date=8 August 2022|archive-date=23 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323174107/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21224-dwarf-planet-syms.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This includes relatively standard astrological symbols for the dwarf planets discovered in the 21st century, which were not given symbols by astronomers because planetary symbols had mostly fallen out of use in astronomy by the time they were discovered. Many astrological symbols are included in [[Unicode]], and a few of these new inventions (the symbols of Haumea, Makemake, and Eris) have since been used by NASA in astronomy.<ref name=miller/> The Eris symbol is a traditional one from [[Discordianism]], a religion worshipping the goddess Eris. The other dwarf-planet symbols are mostly initialisms (except Haumea) in the native scripts of the cultures they come from; they also represent something associated with the corresponding deity or culture, e.g. Makemake's face or Gonggong's snake-tail.<ref name=miller/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.unicode.org/2022/05/out-of-this-world-new-astronomy-symbols.html |title=Out of this World: New Astronomy Symbols Approved for the Unicode Standard |last=Anderson |first=Deborah |date=4 May 2022 |website=unicode.org |publisher=The Unicode Consortium |access-date=6 August 2022 |archive-date=6 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806075352/http://blog.unicode.org/2022/05/out-of-this-world-new-astronomy-symbols.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Moskowitz also devised symbols for the planetary-mass moons; most of them are initialisms combined with a feature of their parent planet. The exception is Charon, which combines the high orb of Pluto's bident symbol with a crescent, suggesting both Charon as a moon and the mythological Charon's boat crossing the river [[Styx]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2025/25079-phobos-and-deimos.pdf |title=Phobos and Deimos symbols |last1=Bala |first1=Gavin Jared |last2=Miller |first2=Kirk |date=7 March 2025 |website=unicode.org |publisher=The Unicode Consortium |access-date=14 March 2025 |quote=}}</ref>