The Moon's Real Name (and others too)

Yesterday, we asked, "What is the moon's real name." By a decisive majority, "Luna" was the winning guess (an honorable mention goes to a handful of people who said "Sol 3a" because that's clever). A notable number of people also thought the moon didn't have a name and a ton of people also thought this was a trick question, and it was. The moon's real name is...


Drum roll please....



More drum roll...



babababababababababababa.......



And the answer is...





The Moon (note the capital "M")

Some people brought up the point about languages, which could change the Moon's "real name" in a culture. but there is a catch. The 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. The Moon is called as such because it doesn't need any other name. It's not just any moon, it's the Moon. The Moon's proper name is reinforced with the realization that in all scientific writings the name that Scientists use to discuss our natural satellite is, you guessed in, the Moon.

The same methodology applies to Earth (the official name being the Earth) and the Sun (with an official name of the Sun). Names like Terra/Gaia/Tellus (for the Earth), Luna (for the Moon), and Sol (for the Sun) are simply poetic. Science fiction writers, scientific journalists/writers (such as the writers on FQTQ), and others will often use these poetic names interchangeably to help add some color to the text. After all, if you're reading some article and every other sentence uses the phrase "the Moon," it gets a little old and boring.

solarsystemWhereas there is nothing wrong with referring to these objects by their more poetic names, I find it valuable to mention that people who adamantly stick to the alternate names the hippies of astronomy. The names aren't proper and are used either to add color to your writing/speech, or they are used as a conscious tool to separate your statement from the traditionally accepted (and officially designated) names for the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon.

As an interesting side note, the Milky Way is technically an improper name as well. Our galaxy is simply called "the Galaxy" as proclaimed by the IAU. In technical writings, the Milky Way is most commonly referred to as "the Galaxy" but it is not unheard of to see it referred to as the Milky Way (and it's certainly not uncommon to hear scientists refer to it by the improper name either).

References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-moons-real-name-and-others-too/