Planets

Last modified: 2005-08-19 by antonio 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)
☿	Mercury	mercury (Hg)
♀	Venus	copper (Cu)	handheld mirror
☉	Sun	gold (Au)
♂	Mars	iron (Fe)	shield and spear
♃	Jupiter	tin (Sn)
♄	Saturn	lead (Pb)
♅	Uranus
♆	Neputne
♇	Pluto

(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 symbols all date from the middle ages. 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 ass