Poll of the Day > so is our moon just named moon

(+) Yeah! (+)

that seems pretty stupid since other planets have named moons
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When the moon was named we didn't know that other planets had moons, once we found out they did we had to come up with new names to differentiate them.
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I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.
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Jin 13 posted...

I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.

That is only the latin name for our moon.

https://futurism.com/the-moons-real-name-and-others-too/
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DrPrimemaster posted...

Jin 13 posted...

I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.

That is only the latin name for our moon.

https://futurism.com/the-moons-real-name-and-others-too/

"However, “Moon” is the name that’s been approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which is the internationally recognized body for naming anything outside of Earth’s atmosphere."

Pfffffft. Whatever bruh. I'll call it whatever I want. Freedom of speech.

Um, Luna is the latin NAME for our moon.

It's not the name for other moons.

Just ours.

IE, Saturn does not have a bunch of Luna's orbiting it.

Earth's moon is called Luna.

It's the only name it's really ever been called I believe.
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DrPrimemaster posted...

Jin 13 posted...

I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.

That is only the latin name for our moon.

https://futurism.com/the-moons-real-name-and-others-too/

Also keep in mind that the planets and moons in our system were named for Roman gods, so a Latin name is befitting.
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People that argue against our moon being called Luna, have not read much literature because, especially in fiction, our moon has been called Luna for a VERY long time. Most especially in Science Fiction, where the planets and moon names are used alot, Luna has been the name of our moon, it has been used across genres, authors and many, many decades.

So yeah, maybe it's not "official", but it's what people have called it in any form of literature for a very long time, unless the just referred to it as "The Moon"...IE The Moon is a Harsh Mistress etc. I think even Heinlein called it Luna a few times though (and he was a very early sci-fi writter along with Asimov.

Asimov btw, just called it "the moon", and went into quite a bit of depth on it's importance to human development and life on this planet at all.

I think most scientists generally have always used just "The Moon", but that does not mean it's the official name.
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I mean our sun is called sun.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/643450442199003136/adwa2VYe.jpg
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Our moons names "The Moon". The names Luna comes from literature an not used by the science community.
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Entity13 posted...

Also keep in mind that the planets and moons in our system were named for Roman gods, so a Latin name is befitting.

Luna was the Roman Goddess of the Moon.

One of them anyways.
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slacker03150 posted...

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/643450442199003136/adwa2VYe.jpg

...thats no moon, its a space station!
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Our moon is called Luna
and our sun is called Sol
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The moon is not Moon, it's Luna.
The sun is not Sun, it's Sol.

46 seconds.
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If our moon was officially call Luna would you like it being named that?

Pretty much every space game calls the moon Luna and the sun Sol.

Seems like a decent way to do it to me.

Foppe posted...

slacker03150 posted...

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/643450442199003136/adwa2VYe.jpg

...thats no moon, its a space station!

Are you calling luna fat?

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/sailormoon/images/9/9e/Rhett.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120323015400
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wolfy42 posted...

Um, Luna is the latin NAME for our moon.

It's not the name for other moons.

Just ours.

IE, Saturn does not have a bunch of Luna's orbiting it.

Earth's moon is called Luna.

It's the only name it's really ever been called I believe.

Luna is literally the translation of "moon" in latin derived languages like spanish. In which case Saturn DOES have a bunch of lunas orbiting it, if you're speaking that language.

ferdk16 posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Um, Luna is the latin NAME for our moon.

It's not the name for other moons.

Just ours.

IE, Saturn does not have a bunch of Luna's orbiting it.

Earth's moon is called Luna.

It's the only name it's really ever been called I believe.

Luna is literally the translation of "moon" in latin derived languages like spanish. In which case Saturn DOES have a bunch of lunas orbiting it, if you're speaking that language.

We aren't speaking that language.

BlackScythe0 posted...

ferdk16 posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Um, Luna is the latin NAME for our moon.

It's not the name for other moons.

Just ours.

IE, Saturn does not have a bunch of Luna's orbiting it.

Earth's moon is called Luna.

It's the only name it's really ever been called I believe.

Luna is literally the translation of "moon" in latin derived languages like spanish. In which case Saturn DOES have a bunch of lunas orbiting it, if you're speaking that language.

We aren't speaking that language.

But that's what Luna means, it's not the name of the moon, it's just saying "moon" in another language.

ferdk16 posted...

BlackScythe0 posted...

ferdk16 posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Um, Luna is the latin NAME for our moon.

It's not the name for other moons.

Just ours.

IE, Saturn does not have a bunch of Luna's orbiting it.

Earth's moon is called Luna.

It's the only name it's really ever been called I believe.

Luna is literally the translation of "moon" in latin derived languages like spanish. In which case Saturn DOES have a bunch of lunas orbiting it, if you're speaking that language.

We aren't speaking that language.

But that's what Luna means, it's not the name of the moon, it's just saying "moon" in another language.

Except your calling it Luna in a language that didn't have names for the other moons yet, no titan etc, so bascially it was the name of only one moon (ours), and therefore it works just fine as a name for just our moon, and that is how it is used.

Nobody, not even scientists, call other moons lunas, ever....the only moon that is EVER called Luna is our moon. Therefore, it is the name for our moon, not moons in general.

It doesn't matter if it means Moon in another language, many names for things mean something else in another language. Luna has been used as the name of the moon in many languages (not just English), and even if it's not official, it's the name of our moon.

IF you want to just call it The Moon, that is fine, if scientists want to say that is it's official name, well, that is silly (it's actually just a definition of what it is), but whatever. The only name I have ever heard our moon called before is Luna, and if you do not have another name (and just like saying a dog with no name is just the dog, does not mean if someone started actually calling the dog by a name, it would still just be the dog, the same can be said of our moon), then the name most used would be the official name.

The name most used by far, is Luna (in fact it's the only name that is not applied to ALL moons, so isn't generic).

No scientist comes out and states that hotdogs are called hotdogs, or cats are called cats (in fact there is a scientific name for cats, so are cats really called cats?)....scientists do not determine the name of things, they at most determine the scientific name of them (often using latin for such names in fact).

The majority of people determine what something is called, or it's name, and that can change over time. Sometimes there is not even a specific name for something and just the generic is used. In this case though, a specific name for our moon has been used for a very long time, and that name....has been, and is, Luna.
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Our moon's name is Moon.

We need to page Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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wolfy42 posted...

In this case though, a specific name for our moon has been used for a very long time, and that name....has been, and is, Luna.

The problem with that is things like this usually have universal names, with minor differences. Saturn is "Saturno" in spanish, we all know what it means, it's that planet. Luna cannot be used universally because it's the generic word for every moon, not just ours. Do you think it would be reasonable if spanish speaking people called our moon "Moon" because it's not spanish so we can just roll with it and use it for just OUR moon and not every other one?

I guess in American culture there's already precedent so I can see where you're coming from. Like you guys tend to use "Sombrero" to mean specifically a mexican hat, even though sombrero literally means hat (and not a mexican hat, but any hat). I think it's better for more universal things like names of space rocks to be more universally named.

wolfy42 posted...

People that argue against our moon being called Luna, have not read much literature because, especially in fiction, our moon has been called Luna for a VERY long time. Most especially in Science Fiction, where the planets and moon names are used alot, Luna has been the name of our moon, it has been used across genres, authors and many, many decades.

So yeah, maybe it's not "official", but it's what people have called it in any form of literature for a very long time, unless the just referred to it as "The Moon"...IE The Moon is a Harsh Mistress etc. I think even Heinlein called it Luna a few times though (and he was a very early sci-fi writter along with Asimov.

Asimov btw, just called it "the moon", and went into quite a bit of depth on it's importance to human development and life on this planet at all.

I think most scientists generally have always used just "The Moon", but that does not mean it's the official name.

Luna can and does refer to other moons.
Jupiter has observable "lunar" activity. They don't call it "Europa activity"
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ZBug_ posted...

Luna can and does refer to other moons.
Jupiter has observable "lunar" activity. They don't call it "Europa activity"

Surely, you jest.
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wolfy42 posted...

Nobody, not even scientists, call other moons lunas, ever

Astrologists never officially call OUR moon luna, so this isn't a valid point for your argument.
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ClarkDuke posted...

ZBug_ posted...

Luna can and does refer to other moons.
Jupiter has observable "lunar" activity. They don't call it "Europa activity"

Surely, you jest.

The only joke here is people who actually believe official government space agencies have named our moon Luna.
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you realize Luna and lunar are two entirely different words, right
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ZBug_ posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Nobody, not even scientists, call other moons lunas, ever

Astrologists never officially call OUR moon luna, so this isn't a valid point for your argument.

Except it is, because people DO call our moon Luna.

As far as spanish people, they also have called the moon Luna, as have pretty much every language, at least in written form. Luna is the only name people have called our moon, across all the currently used languages, other then the generic Moon.

Just because scientists do not do so, does not mean it's not named. Scientists have not named many things, but they still have a name.

Many books, that have been translated into pretty much every language, call the moon Luna.

As far as lunar cycle being used for other moons, that is totally different. The moon itself is not being called Luna, just the cycles of that moon are being refered to based on the cycles of our moon (Luna).

Again, nobody has called other moons Luna. And the argument that scientists do not call our moon Luna holds no water, as many people throughout history HAVE called it Luna, so that is it's name until some other name is agreed apon by a larger majority.

Which won't happen.

So our moon is and probably always will be called Luna.
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helIy posted...

you realize Luna and lunar are two entirely different words, right

Based on his reply, no.
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wolfy42 posted...

So our moon is and probably always will be called Luna.

I understand you point of view, and I agree. Our moon will be called Luna.

But officially, as TC stated: "our moon is just named moon"
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ZBug_ posted...

wolfy42 posted...

So our moon is and probably always will be called Luna.

I understand you point of view, and I agree. Our moon will be called Luna.

But officially, as TC stated: "our moon is just named moon"

I can agree that it is not officially called Luna yet.

I just am stating that it has been called Luna already for quite along time, official or not, and without any other official name, I'm going with the majority rules option here and declaring that Luna is it's name. Some year it may be made official, but for now, that is good enough for me.
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Jin 13 posted...

I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.

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ClarkDuke posted...

helIy posted...

you realize Luna and lunar are two entirely different words, right

Based on his reply, no.

It depends on which semantics you want to argue. Astrologically, no there's not a difference.
But also astrologically; officially only Earth's natural satellite is called "Moon" the rest are called their given names, or referred to as "natural satellites".
Obviously in civilian language "moon" is more broad and can refer to any natural satellite.

This is why semantics aren't worth arguing. Argue the message, not the words.
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Why are you guys not questioning our own planet's name?

It was called "The Earth" before we knew of other planets, our planet is simply named after its surface layer, which is like calling the moon The Rock, comets Ices or the sun The Fire.
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AwesomeTurtwig posted...

I mean our sun is called sun.

And this guy is supposed to be an engineer.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Why are you guys not questioning our own planet's name?

It was called "The Earth" before we knew of other planets, our planet is simply named after its surface layer, which is like calling the moon The Rock, comets Ices or the sun The Fire.

Exactly. It was a common naming practice back then. That's why it's displeasing that the sun and the moon, are still just the sun and the moon. Its generic.
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Erik_P posted...

AwesomeTurtwig posted...

I mean our sun is called sun.

And this guy is supposed to be an engineer.

No wonder you make eleven dollars an hour.

DrPrimemaster posted...

When the moon was named we didn't know that other planets had moons, once we found out they did we had to come up with new names to differentiate them.

Can we start calling our planet by a different name?
Planet Planet sounds perfect.

No one cares about moons. Our sun named Sol. And I'm pretty sure every civilization in the galaxy calls their planet "Earth" or some variation of that. When we meet them we''l rename our planet.
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The Earth is Terra, and the moon is Luna.
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Doctor Foxx posted...

The Earth is Terra, and the moon is Luna.

“Gully Foyle is my name
And Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
The stars my destination.”
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Person106 posted...

Jin 13 posted...

I've read in some places that our moon's proper name is Luna.

Moonbutt is best princess.
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Doctor Foxx posted...

The Earth is Terra, and the moon is Luna.

not officially
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wolfy42 posted...

I just am stating that it has been called Luna already for quite along time, official or not, and without any other official name, I'm going with the majority rules option here and declaring that Luna is it's name.

It does have an official name, though. That official name is "The Moon".

This is why your "nameless dog" example doesn't work.
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I name the moon Craigory
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its called Luna
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