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Planetary symbols

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Planetary symbols are used in astrology and traditionally in astronomy to represent a classical planet (which includes the Sun and the Moon) or one of the modern planets. The classical symbols were also used in alchemy for the seven metals known to the ancients, which were associated with the planets, and in calendars for the seven days of the week associated with the seven planets. The original symbols date to Greco-Roman astronomy; their modern forms developed in the 16th century, and additional symbols would be created later for newly discovered planets.

The seven classical planets, their symbols, days and most commonly associated planetary metals are:

celestial body Moon Mercury Venus Sun Mars Jupiter Saturn
symbol ☾ ☿ ♀ ☉ ♂ ♃ ♄
unicode ☾ ☿ ♀︎ ☉ ♂︎ ♃ ♄
day Monday Wednesday Friday Sunday Tuesday Thursday Saturday
metal silver quicksilver copper gold iron tin lead

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) discourages the use of these symbols in modern journal articles, and their style manual proposes one- and two-letter abbreviations for the names of the planets for cases where planetary symbols might be used, such as in the headings of tables.[1] The modern planets with their traditional symbols and IAU abbreviations are:

planet Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune
symbol ☿ ♀ 🜨 ♂ ♃ ♄ ⛢ ♆
initial (IAU) Me
H[a]		 V E Ma
M[a]		 J S U N

The symbols of Venus and Mars are also used to represent female and male in biology following a convention introduced by Carl Linnaeus in the 1750s.

History

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Classical planets

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Main article: Classical planet

The origins of the planetary symbols can be found in the attributes given to classical deities. The Roman planisphere of Bianchini (2nd century, currently in the Louvre, inv. Ma 540)[2] shows the seven planets represented by portraits of the seven corresponding gods, each a bust with a halo and an iconic object or dress, as follows: Mercury has a caduceus and a winged cap; Venus has a necklace and a shining mirror; Mars has a war-helmet and a spear; Jupiter has a laurel crown and a staff; Saturn has a conical headdress and a scythe; the Sun has rays emanating from his head; and the Moon has a crescent atop her head.

The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri.[3][b]

Early forms are also found in medieval Byzantine codices which preserve horoscopes.[4]

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    The symbol for the Moon in a medieval Byzantine (11th c.) ms. The appearance in late Classical times was similar.[3]
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    The symbol for Mercury in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss[3]
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    The symbol for Venus in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss[3]
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    The disk with a ray as a symbol for the Sun in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss[3]
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    The symbol for Mars in late Classical (6th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss.[3]
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    The symbol for Jupiter in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss[3]
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    The symbol for Saturn in late Classical (4th & 5th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss. Cf. kappa-rho, ⟨κρ⟩.[3]

A diagram in the astronomical compendium by Johannes Kamateros (12th century) closely resembles the 11th-century forms shown above, with the Sun represented by a circle with a single ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a round shield in front of a diagonal spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, though without the crosshatch-marks seen in modern versions of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.[citation needed] These cross-marks first appear in the late 15th or early 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."[5] The modern forms of the classical planetary symbols are found in a woodcut of the seven planets in a Latin translation of Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi's De Magnis Coniunctionibus printed at Venice in 1506, represented as the corresponding gods riding chariots.[6]

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    Early modern depiction of the planet symbols in an alchemical context (Musaeum Hermeticum, 1678)
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    Page spread (with the signs for Mars and Venus) from a 1515 illustrated edition of Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi's De Magnis Coniunctionibus (in the by translation by Herman of Carinthia, c. 1140, editio princeps by Erhard Ratdolt of Augsburg, 1489).
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    Depiction of the planets in a 15th-century Arabic manuscript of Abu Ma'shar's "Book of nativities"[c]
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    Medieval planisphere showing the zodiac and the classical planets. The planets are represented by seven faces.
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    16th-century mechanical clock + calendar, using the symbols of the eponymous planets for the days of the week.
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    Planetary-metal symbols at the center of the coat of arms of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Earth symbol

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Main article: Earth symbol
 
Four-quarters-of-the-world symbol for Earth
 
Globus cruciger symbol for Earth
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Earth symbols.

Earth is not one of the classical planets, as "planets" by definition were "wandering stars" as seen from Earth's surface. Earth's status as planet is a consequence of heliocentrism in the 16th century. Nonetheless, there is a pre-heliocentric symbol for the world, now used as a planetary symbol for the Earth. This is a circle crossed by two lines, horizontal and vertical, representing the world divided by four rivers into the four quarters of the world (often translated as the four "corners" of the world):  . A variant, now obsolete, had only the horizontal line:  .[7]

A medieval European symbol for the world – the globus cruciger,   (the globe surmounted by a Christian cross) – is also used as a planetary symbol; it resembles an inverted symbol for Venus.

The planetary symbols for Earth are encoded in Unicode at U+1F728 🜨 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR VERDIGRIS and U+2641 ♁ EARTH.

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    The Olympian gods, atop a  -shaped world
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    Stylized Earth symbol
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    A simple globus cruciger
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    Three globi crucigeri in the coat of arms of Maschwanden in Switzerland
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    In the flag of Uppland, the globe of the globus cruciger is stylized as a T-and-O map,  
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    In this globus cruciger, the cross is surmounted on a celestial orb with stars

Classical planets

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Further information: Classical planets and Days of the week

Moon

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Further information: Crescent and Astronomical symbols § Symbols for the Sun and Moon
 
Decrescent symbol for the Moon
 
Encrescent symbol for the Moon
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luna symbols.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crescent moon symbols.

The crescent shape has been used to represent the Moon since antiquity. In classical antiquity, it is worn by lunar deities (Selene/Luna, Artemis/Diana, Men, etc.) either on the head or behind the shoulders, with its horns pointing upward. The representation of the moon as a simple crescent with the horns pointing to the side (as a heraldic crescent increscent or crescent decrescent) is attested from late Classical times.

The same symbol can be used in a different context not for the Moon itself but for a lunar phase, as part of a sequence of four symbols for "new moon" (U+1F311 🌑︎), "waxing" (U+263D ☽︎), "full moon" (U+1F315 🌕︎) and "waning" (U+263E ☾︎).

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    The Moon symbol, representing silver mining, in the municipal arms of Sala in Sweden
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    The Moon symbol in the municipal arms of Silvberg ('Silver Mountain') in Sweden
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    Stylized Moon symbol
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    The Moon for silver

Mercury

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Crosshatched caduceus symbol for Mercury
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mercury symbols.

The symbol ☿ for Mercury is a caduceus (a staff intertwined with two serpents), a symbol associated with Mercury / Hermes throughout antiquity. Some time after the 11th century, a crosshatch was added to the bottom of the staff to make it seem more Christian.[3]

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    The god Hermes (Mercury) with his caduceus
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    The caduceus, copied from pottery
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    The caduceus in a tapestry, 3rd century
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    Mercury symbol, representing quicksilver mining, in the municipal coat of arms of Stahlberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
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    Stylized Mercury symbol
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    Mercury for quicksilver

The ☿ symbol has also been used to indicate intersex, transgender, or non-binary gender.[8] A related usage is for the 'worker' or 'neuter' sex among social insects that is neither male nor (due to its lack of reproductive capacity) fully female, such as worker bees.[9] It was also once the designated symbol for hermaphroditic or 'perfect' flowers,[10] but botanists now use ⚥ for these.[11]

Its Unicode codepoint is U+263F ☿ MERCURY.

Venus

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Crosshatched copper symbol for Venus

The Venus symbol, ♀, consists of a circle with a small cross below it. It has been interpreted as a depiction of the hand-mirror of the goddess, which may also explain Venus's association with the planetary metal copper, as mirrors in antiquity were made of polished copper,[12][d] though this is not certain.[3] In the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri 235, the symbols for Venus and Mercury did not have the cross on the bottom stem,[3] and Venus appears without the cross (⚲) in Johannes Kamateros (12th century).[citation needed]

In botany and biology, the symbol for Venus is used to represent the female sex, alongside the symbol for Mars representing the male sex,[13] following a convention introduced by Linnaeus in the 1750s.[10][e] Arising from the biological convention, the symbol also came to be used in sociological contexts to represent women or femininity. This gendered association of Venus and Mars has been used to pair them heteronormatively, describing women and men stereotypically as being so different that they can be understood as coming from different planets, an understanding popularized in 1992 by the book titled Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.[14][15]

Unicode encodes the symbol as U+2640 ♀ FEMALE SIGN, in the Miscellaneous Symbols block.[f]

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Venus symbols.
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    A bronze mirror, of the type associated with Venus
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    Cupid holding up a similar mirror to Venus
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    The Venus symbol, representing copper mining, in the municipal coat of arms of Falun Municipality in Sweden (1932)
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    Raised fist within Venus symbol, used as a symbol of second-wave feminism (1960s)[g]
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    Stylized Venus symbol
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    Venus for copper

Sun

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Further information: Solar symbol and Symbols for the Sun and Moon
 
Modern astronomical symbol for the Sun
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sun symbols.

The modern astronomical symbol for the Sun, the circumpunct (U+2609 ☉ SUN), was first used in the Renaissance. It possibly represents Apollo's golden shield with a boss; it is unknown if it traces descent from the nearly identical Egyptian hieroglyph for the Sun.

Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows a circlet with rays radiating from it.[5][2] In late Classical times, the Sun is attested as a circle with a single ray. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the same symbol.[18] This older symbol is encoded by Unicode as U+1F71A 🜚 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR GOLD in the Alchemical Symbols block. Both symbols have been used alchemically for gold, as have more elaborate symbols showing a disk with multiple rays or even a face.

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    A buckler with a sun symbol and dot at center
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    Stylized circumpunct symbol for the Sun
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    The Sun for gold
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    🜚, the medieval astronomical symbol for the Sun

Mars

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Spear and shield symbol for Mars
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mars symbols.

The Mars symbol, ♂, is a depiction of a circle with an arrow emerging from it, pointing at an angle to the upper right in Europe and to the upper left in India.[19][20] It is also the old and obsolete symbol for iron in alchemy. In zoology and botany, it is used to represent the male sex (alongside the astrological symbol for Venus representing the female sex),[13] following a convention introduced by Linnaeus in the 1750s.[10]

The symbol dates from at latest the 11th century, at which time it was an arrow across or through a circle, thought to represent the shield and spear of the god Mars; in the medieval form, for example in the 12th-century Compendium of Astrology by Johannes Kamateros, the spear is drawn across the shield.[18] The Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri show a different symbol,[3] perhaps simply a spear.[2]

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    3rd-century coin with Mars on the reverse, with lance and shield. The same symbols were used for Athena (Pallas).
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    Mars with spear and shield, Pompeii.
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    The Mars symbol, representing iron mining, in the municipal coat of arms of Karlskoga in Sweden
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    The Mars symbol in the municipal coat of arms of Loppi in Finland
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    Mars symbol in the patch for NASA's Viking mission
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    Stylized Mars symbol. The spear partly crosses the shield.
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    The Mars symbol was used as the symbol for iron

Its Unicode codepoint is U+2642 ♂ MALE SIGN (♂).

Jupiter

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Zeus initial for Jupiter
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jupiter symbols.

The symbol for Jupiter, ♃, was originally a Greek zeta, Ζ, with a stroke indicating that it is an abbreviation (for Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Roman Jupiter).

Its Unicode codepoint is U+2643 ♃ JUPITER.

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    Jupiter and Saturn symbols in patch for NASA's Mariner Jupiter-Saturn mission
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    Stylized Jupiter symbol
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    Jupiter for tin
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    A modern form of the monogram reflects its origin in the letter 'Z'

Saturn

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Crosshatched kappa-rho ligature for Saturn
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saturn symbols.

Salmasius and earlier attestations show that the symbol for Saturn, ♄, derives from the initial letters (Kappa, rho) of its ancient Greek name Κρόνος (Kronos), with a stroke to indicate an abbreviation.[10] By the time of Kamateros (12th century), the symbol had been reduced to a shape similar to a lower-case letter eta η, with the abbreviation stroke surviving (if at all) in the curl on the bottom-right end.

Its Unicode codepoint is U+2644 ♄ SATURN.

Modern discoveries

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Uranus

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Platinum symbol for Uranus
 
Herschel monogram for Uranus

The symbols for Uranus were created shortly after its discovery in 1781. One symbol, ⛢, invented by J. G. Köhler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum; since platinum, commonly called white gold, was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, ♂, and gold, ☉.[21][22] Gold and iron are the planetary metals for the Sun and Mars, and so share their symbols. Several orientations were suggested, but an upright arrow is now universal.

Another symbol,  , was suggested by Lalande in 1784. In a letter to Herschel, Lalande described it as "a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name".[23] The platinum symbol tends to be used by astronomers, and the monogram by astrologers.[24]

For use in computer systems, the symbols are encoded U+26E2 ⛢ ASTRONOMICAL SYMBOL FOR URANUS and U+2645 ♅ URANUS.

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    The planetary symbols as rendered in 1784, including the newly discovered Uranus (left)[21]
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    The Uranus platinum symbol on William Herschel's coat of arms (center, blue background)
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    Stylized Uranus monogram

Neptune

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Trident symbol for Neptune

Several symbols were proposed for Neptune to accompany the suggested names for the planet. Claiming the right to name his discovery, Urbain Le Verrier originally proposed to name the planet for the Roman god Neptune[25] and the symbol of a trident,[26] while falsely stating that this had been officially approved by the French Bureau des Longitudes.[25] In October, he sought to name the planet Leverrier, after himself, and he had loyal support in this from the observatory director, François Arago,[27] who in turn proposed a new symbol for the planet,  .[28] However, this suggestion met with resistance outside France,[27] and French almanacs quickly reintroduced the name Herschel for Uranus, after that planet's discoverer Sir William Herschel, and Leverrier for the new planet,[29] though it was used by anglophone institutions.[30] Professor James Pillans of the University of Edinburgh defended the name Janus for the new planet, and proposed a key for its symbol.[26] Meanwhile, Struve presented the name Neptune on December 29, 1846, to the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.[31] In August 1847, the Bureau des Longitudes announced its decision to follow prevailing astronomical practice and adopt the choice of Neptune, with Arago refraining from participating in this decision.[32] The planetary symbol was Neptune's trident, with the handle stylized either as a crosshatch  , following Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the asteroids, or as an orb  , following the symbols for Uranus, Earth, and Mars.[7] The crosshatch variant is the more common today.

For use in computer systems, the symbols are encoded as U+2646 ♆ NEPTUNE and U+2BC9 ⯉ NEPTUNE FORM TWO.

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    Athena (Pallas) with her lance and Poseidon (Neptune) with his trident. These weapons became the symbols of the planets Pallas and Neptune, respectively.
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    Poseidon with a trident, 6th century BCE
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    Poseidon with a trident, 6th century CE
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    Stylized Neptune symbol (orb base)
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    Stylized Neptune symbol (cross base)
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    ⯉, the obsolete Le Verrier monogram for Neptune

Pluto

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Bident symbol for Pluto
 
Percival Lowell monogram for Pluto

Pluto was almost universally considered a planet from its discovery in 1930 until its re-classification as a dwarf planet (planetoid) by the IAU in 2006. Planetary geologists[33] and astrologers continue to treat it as a planet. The original planetary symbol for Pluto was  , a monogram of the letters P and L. Astrologers generally use a bident with an orb. NASA has used the bident symbol since Pluto's reclassification. These symbols are encoded as U+2647 ♇ PLUTO and U+2BD3 ⯓ PLUTO FORM TWO.

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pluto symbols.
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    Pluto holding a bident
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    Pluto with a bident
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    Pluto symbol stylized as an inverted Mercury
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    Pluto compared in size to Earth's moon in a NASA publication
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    ⯖, an astrological symbol used for Pluto in Germany and Denmark, representing Pluto's orbit crossing Neptune's
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    ⯔, an astrological symbol used in the Mediterranean and Germany. The globe at bottom may be larger or omitted altogether.

Minor planets

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"Designation of celestial bodies" in a German almanac printed 1850[34]

In the 19th century, planetary symbols for the major asteroids were also in use, including 1 Ceres (a reaper's sickle, encoded U+26B3 ⚳ CERES), 2 Pallas (a lance, U+26B4 ⚴ PALLAS) and 3 Juno (a sceptre, encoded U+26B5 ⚵ JUNO). Encke (1850) used symbols for 5 Astraea, 6 Hebe, 7 Iris, 8 Flora and 9 Metis in the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch.[34]

In the late 20th century, astrologers abbreviated the symbol for 4 Vesta (the sacred fire of Vesta, encoded U+26B6 ⚶ VESTA),[35] and introduced new symbols for 5 Astraea ( , a stylised % sign, shift-5 on the keyboard for asteroid 5), 10 Hygiea encoded U+2BDA ⯚ HYGIEA)[36] and for 2060 Chiron, discovered in 1977 (a key, U+26B7 ⚷ CHIRON).[35] Chiron's symbol was adapted as additional centaurs were discovered; symbols for 5145 Pholus and 7066 Nessus have been encoded in Unicode.[36] The abbreviated Vesta symbol is now universal, and the astrological symbol for Pluto has been used astronomically for Pluto as a dwarf planet.[37]

In the early 21st century, symbols for the trans-Neptunian dwarf planets have come into use, particularly Eris (the hand of Eris, ⯰, but also ⯱), Sedna, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar and Orcus which are in Unicode. All (except Eris, for which the hand of Eris is a traditional Discordian symbol) were devised by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts.[37][38]

 
This article contains uncommon Unicode characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.
Unicode characters for minor planets
Code point
Ceres  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ceres symbols.
 U+26B3 ⚳ CERES.[39]
Pallas  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to (2) Pallas symbols.
 U+26B4 ⚴ PALLAS.[39]
Juno  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to (3) Juno symbols.
 U+26B5 ⚵ JUNO.[39]
Vesta  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to (4) Vesta symbols.
 U+26B6 ⚶ VESTA.[39]
Hygiea  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to (10) Hygiea symbols.
 U+2BDA ⯚ HYGIEA.[39]
Chiron  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chiron symbols.
 U+26B7 ⚷ CHIRON.[39]
Pholus  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pholus symbols.
 U+2BDB ⯛ PHOLUS
Nessus  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nessus symbols.
 U+2BDC ⯜ NESSUS
Orcus  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orcus symbols.
 U+1F77F 🝿 ORCUS
Haumea  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Haumea symbols.
 U+1F77B 🝻 HAUMEA
Quaoar  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Quaoar symbols.
 U+1F77E 🝾 QUAOAR
Makemake  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Makemake symbols.
 U+1F77C 🝼 MAKEMAKE
Gonggong  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gonggong symbols.
 U+1F77D 🝽 GONGGONG
Eris  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Five-fingered hand of Eris.
 U+2BF0 ⯰ ERIS FORM ONE
 
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eris astrological symbol.
 U+2BF1 ⯱ ERIS FORM TWO
(used by astrologer Henry Seltzer)
Sedna  
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sedna symbols.
 U+2BF2 ⯲ SEDNA
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    Ceres with her sickle
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    Athena (Pallas) with her lance (left)
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    Juno with her scepter
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    Vesta's sacred fire
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    Hygiea with her snake (old astr. symbol  )
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    Petroglyph of Makemake
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    Orcus's gape
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    A human-headed serpent similar to depictions of Gonggong
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    The Hand of Eris from the Principia Discordia

Additional symbols

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From 1845 to 1855, many symbols were created for newly discovered asteroids. But by 1851, the spate of discoveries had led to a general abandonment of these symbols in favour of numbering all asteroids instead.[40]

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    Astraea with her scales (astronomical symbol   or  )
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    Hebe bearing a cup (astr. symbol  )
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    Iris as the rainbow (astr. symbol  )
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    Flora dispensing flowers (astr. symbol  )
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    Metis (astr. symbol  )
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    Hygiea with her snake (astr. symbol  )
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    Parthenope (astr. symbol  )
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    Parthenope with her lyre (astr. symbol  )
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    Victory (Victoria) with a laurel wreath (astr. symbol   or  )
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    Egeria (astr. symbol  ) dictating the laws of Rome to Numa Pompilius
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    Peace (Irene) as a freed dove (astr. symbol  )
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    Peace with wings and an olive branch
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    Eunomia (astr. symbol  ) at left, as allegory of law and good order; Irene in centre
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    Psyche with butterfly wings (astr. symbol  )
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    Psyche accompanied by a butterfly, and Hermes with a multiply twisted caduceus
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    Psyche with butterfly wings, and Charon standing in his lunate boat
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    Insignia of the NASA Psyche mission, possibly influenced by the Psyche symbol[41]
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    Thetis with a dolphin (astro. symbol  )
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    Melpomene with a dagger (astr. symbol  )
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    Fortuna with her wheel (astro. symbol  )
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    blindfolded Fortuna balanced on a wheel
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    Proserpina with a pomegranate (astr. symbol  )
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    Bellona with a lance and flail (astro. symbol  )
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    Amphitrite on a shell (astr. symbol  )
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    Leukothea (astr. symbol  ) as goddess of sailors
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    Faith (Fides, astr. symbol  ) triumphs over idolatry

Moskowitz, who designed symbols for the trans-Neptunian dwarf planets, also designed symbols for the smaller trans-Neptunian objects Varuna, Ixion, and Salacia. Others have proposed symbols for even more trans-Neptunian objects, e.g. Zane Stein for Varda. Although mentioned in the Unicode proposal for the other dwarf planets, they lack broader adoption.[37][42]

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    Salacia riding her hippocamp (symbol  )
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    Ixion bound to his wheel (symbol   or  )
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    Varuna with his snake-lasso (symbol  )
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    Varda kindling the stars (symbol  )

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b In order to have one-letter abbreviations for every planet, the IAU recommends 'H' (Hermes) for Mercury and 'M' for Mars. In the unlikely event a satellite were ever discovered around Mercury, its official abbreviation would be H1.
  2. ^ "It is now possible to trace the medieval symbols for at least four of the five planets to forms that occur in some of the latest papyrus horoscopes ([ P.Oxy. ] 4272, 4274, 4275 [...]). Mercury's is a stylized caduceus. ... The ideal form of Mars' symbol is uncertain, and perhaps not related to the later circle with an arrow through it." — Jones (1999)[3]
  3. ^ BNF Arabe 2583 folio 15v: Saturn is shown as a black bearded man, kneeling and holding a scythe or axe; Mercury is shown as a scribe holding an open codex; Jupiter as a man of the law wearing a turban; Venus as a lute-player; Mars as a helmeted warrior holding a sword and the head of an enemy.
  4. ^ "The symbol, the stylized hand mirror of the Goddess Venus, also represents femininity. It has also been used for the element copper: Mirrors had been manufactured from polished copper." — Rehder (2011)[12]
  5. ^ "In his Systema Naturae (Leyden, 1735) he [Linnaeus] used them with their traditional associations for metals. Their first biological use is in the Linnaean dissertation Plantae hybridae xxx sistit J.J. Haartman (1751) where in discussing hybrid plants Linnaeus denoted the supposed female parent species by the sign ♀, the male parent by the sign ♂, the hybrid by ☿: 'matrem signo ♀, patrem ♂ & plantam hybridam ☿ designavero'. In subsequent publications he retained the signs ♀ and ♂ for male and female individuals but discarded ☿ for hybrids; the last are now indicated by the multiplication sign ×."
    "Linnaeus's first general use of the signs of ♀ and ♂ was in his Species Plantarum (1753) written between 1746 and 1752 and surveying concisely the whole plant kingdom as then known. ... In order to save space Linnaeus employed the astronomical symbols of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the Sun to denote woody, herbaceous perennial, biennial and annual plants respectively [ed.: the orbital periods of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Earth about the Sun are 29, 12, 2, and 1 year] ... and Mercury, Mars and Venus for the hermaphrodite, male and female conditions" ...
    "Later, in his Mantissa Plantarum (1767) and Mantissa Plantarum altera (1771), Linnaeus regularly used ♂, ♀ and ☿ for male, female and hermaphrodite flowers respectively. Their aptness made them easy to remember and their convenience led to their general acceptance in zoology as well as botany. Koelreuter found them especially convenient when recording his experiments in hybridization; as late as 1778 he used the sign ☿ to denote a hybrid plant." — Stearn (1962)[10]
  6. ^ Glossed in the official Unicode code chart as " = Venus = alchemical symbol for copper → 1F469 👩 woman → 1F6BA 🚺 women's symbol". [16]
  7. ^ The raised fist symbol is attributed to Robin Morgan, in the 1960s: "Morgan designed the universal logo of the women's movement, the woman's symbol centered with a raised fist."[17]

References

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  38. ^ Anderson, Deborah (4 May 2022). "Out of this world: New astronomy symbols approved for the Unicode standard". unicode.org (Press release). The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  39. ^ a b c d e f In the official code chart.
  40. ^ Hilton, James L. (14 June 2011). When did the asteroids become minor planets? (Report). Astronomical Almanac Division. Washington, DC: United States Naval Observatory. Archived from the original on August 10, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  41. ^ Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (18 September 2023). "Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  42. ^ Miller, Kirk (18 October 2024). "Preliminary presentation of constellation symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
 
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