Planets

Last modified: 2006-09-30 by antónio martins
Keywords: astronomy |
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• Astronomical symbols
• Flags of planets
  • Earth
  • Moon
  • Mars

• FOTW Vexillological reference
• FOTW Topical Index

• Some info on proposed earth/space flags, and a lot of dead links
  Richard Knipel, 19 Jul 2004

Astronomical symbols

symbol	“planet”	alchem. ass.	symb. origin/mnem.
♁	Earth
☾	Moon	silver (Ag)	crescent
☿	Mercury	mercury (Hg)	Hermes’ staff
♀	Venus	copper (Cu)	handheld mirror
☉	Sun	gold (Au)	Sun disc
♂	Mars	iron (Fe)	shield and spear
♃	Jupiter	tin (Sn)
♄	Saturn	lead (Pb)	sickle
♅	Uranus
♆	Neputne		trident
♇	Pluto		"P"+"L" monogram

(combined from contributions below)

The traditional astrological symbol for Mars is also used as the scientific symbol for male, in the same way that the astrological symbol for Venus, a circle with a cross below it, is used scientifically for female. All the planets (plus the sun and moon) have similar representations.
James Dignan, 19 Jul 2004

The Mars symbol is basically a shield and spear (Mars/Ares was the god of war.) Each of the “planets” (that included the sun and moon in those days) was also associated with a metal in medieval alchemy
Albert Kirsch, 19 Jul 2004

Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.