Astro Symbols

The above graphic depicts the planetary-mass objects (planemos) of the solar system. Each celestial object is depicted as a simple solid color circle overlayed with an astronomical symbol, and accompanied by a brief description of both the object and its namesake.

I made the above infographic for fun and release it under the CC BY SA 4.0 License, So feel free to modify this, print this as a poster, whatever, as long as you credit me, Robert Winslow, and release any derivative works under the same license.

As for origins of the symbols: The symbols for the major planets, the Sun, Luna, Ceres, and Pluto are all official and recognized by astronomers. (This is because all of these objects were at one point considered planets.) The symbols for the other dwarf planets, the moons of other objects, etc. are unofficial. These mostly come from public domain designs by Denis Moskowitz. The designs for Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Orcus are my own designs (also public domain).

In the links at the bottom of the page, you’ll find the notes I took while making this graphic, which have info and symbols for a lot of little astronomical objects not included in the picture above. You’ll also find a link to a little font I made to help display the symbols for the moons.

¶ The Sun and its Planemos (Transcript)

The Sun, Major planets, likely and official dwarf planets, and planetary-mass moons.
Enceladus is here, too.

Object diameters are scaled in proportion to the square root of their actual size.
Distances are not to scale.

Graphic made by Robert Winslow. Updated 2022 July 2nd
rmwinslow.com/posts/nature/astrosymbols

¶ ⯲ Sedna

Almost as red as Mars.
Namesake: God of sea creatures.Her severed fingers turned into the first seals

¶ ⯰ Eris

More massive than Pluto. The reason Pluto lost its planet status.
Namesake: God of discord and strife. Kickstarted the Trojan War with an apple

¶ 🝽 Gonggong

Just barely big enough to hold onto volatile compounds..
Namesake: Man-faced serpent who knocked the world off-kilter.

¶ 🝼 Makemake

Red-tinged and covered in frozen methane gravel.
Namesake: Creator god of the birdman cult.

¶ 🝾 Quaoar

Its icy shell was stripped away in a past collision.
Namesake: Sang the world into existence.Wild animals enforce his will.

¶ 🝻 Haumea

Spins so fast it’s egg-shaped. Tiny little rings.
Namesake: God of fertility. Gave humans the ability to give natural birth

¶ ♇ Pluto

Heart-shaped plain of solid nitrogen. Equatorial dark spots made of space tar.
Namesake: Lord of the underworld. God of mineral wealth. At Jupiter’s suggestion, kidnapped Ceres’ daughter, Persephone.

¶ ⯕ Charon

A moon big enough compared to its planet that the center of gravity lies in between.
Namesake: Ferryman of the Dead. Son of Nyx. Kind of a gnarly old dude

¶ 🝿 Orcus

The anti-Pluto
Namesake: Lord of the underworld. Punisher of broken oaths.Same namesake as orcs, ogres, and orca whales

¶ ♆ Neptune

A distant hidden ice giant. Discovered with math.
Namesake: God of the sea and horses.The greek equivalent is also a cthonic god of earthquakes.

¶ ♆I Triton

Captured dwarf planet with a backwards orbit. Thin atmosphere.
Namesake: Son of Neptune. Merman with a magic conch.Lives in a palace deep under the sea. ♫

¶ ♅ Uranus

Sideways ice giant. Made of eerily smooth gas.
Namesake: Primordial sky god. Overthrown by his son Saturn.

¶ ♅I Ariel

Relatively bright, porous surface.
Namesake: Slyph with power over the winds.

¶ ♅II Umbriel

Mysteriously dark surface.
Namesake: Dusky melancholy gnome.

¶ ♅III Titania

Enormous frost-lined canyons.
Namesake: Queen of the fey.

¶ ♅IV Oberon

Scarred and cratered surface.
Namesake: King of the Fey.

¶ ♄ Saturn

Stormy gas giant with magnificent Rings
Namesake: Titan of wealth, agriculture, cycles of renewal, and time.A horrible father, but a pretty good ruler of the world.

¶ ♄II Enceladus

Shiny little snowy ball. Southern geysers give saturn an icy ring.
Namesake: Imprisoned under Sicily. His breath causes Mount Etna to rumble.

¶ ♄III Tethys

Not quite as shiny as Enceladus. Almost entirely made of ice.
Namesake: Mother of thousands of minor ocean and river gods.

¶ ♄IV Dione

Another iceball. Resonant with Enceladus. Network of Cliffs.
Namesake: Mother of Venus (when she isn’t birthed from sea foam).

¶ ♄V Rhea

A dirty snowball with its own tiny little rings.
Namesake: Wife of Saturn who rescued baby Jupiter from being eaten.

¶ ♄VI Titan

Thick hazy atmosphere. Surface lakes of liquid methane.
Namesake: Precursors to the Olympian gods. Saturn’s other moons are named after specific titans.

¶ ♄VIII Iapetus

Tilted orbit with a great view. Walnut shape from equatorial ridge.
Namesake: Brother of Saturn. Father of Atlas and Prometheus.

¶ ♃ Jupiter

Huge. Bombarded by comets. Giant eternal storms.
Namesake: King of gods. God of Sky and Storm.Overthrew Saturn. Huge pervert

¶ ♃I Io

Dry. Sulfurous. Spews tons of deadly crud into space.
Namesake: Lusted after and kidnapped by Jupiter. Turned into a bovine, and tormented by a gadfly. (She got better.)

¶ ♃II Europa

Vast oceans deep under an icey, irradiated surface.
Namesake: Jupiter turned himself into a bovine to kidnap Europa,then wooed her with the gift of a pet dog and a giant fighting robot.

¶ ♃III Ganymede

Giant moon with a magnetic field. Subsurface oceans.
Namesake: A really gorgeous guy, kidnapped by Jupiter in bird form.Made immortal to serve as Jupiter’s cupbearer and boytoy.

¶ ♃IV Callisto

Heavily cratered. Minimal radiation (good spot for base?)
Namesake: A nymph and follower of Diana. And oh gosh, her story is horrific. Getting turned into a bear is somehow the least awful thing the gods did to her.

¶ ⚳ Ceres

Largest asteroid. Made of clay and brine.
Namesake: God of growth, harvest, and especially grain.Forsakes humanity each winter when her daughter is in the underworld.

¶ ♂ Mars

Covered in rust. Icy poles. Inhabited by robots.
Namesake: God of violent combat.One time got stuck in a jar.

¶ ⊕ Terra

Surface water oceans. Exotic worms and slimes.
Namesake: Earth, dirt, soil, that good brown stuff.

¶ ☾ Luna

Drives our tides. Covered in lovely craters and frozen lava flows.
Namesake: “Moon” comes from a root word relating to timekeeping and the month.Luna is a god of the Moon, and often identified with Diana (hunt god) or Juno (Queen of gods)

¶ ♀ Venus

Thick acidic atmosphere. Blisteringly hot.
Namesake: God of love and desire. Starts wars to win beauty contests.

¶ ☿ Mercury

Extreme Temperature variations. Orbits really quickly.
Namesake: God of commerce and communication and thieves and trickery.Has a sidegig as psychopomp. Questionable fashion accessories.

¶ ☉ IT’S THE SUN!

WOW!
IT’S SOL! THE THING THAT’S CONSTANTLY SCREAMING AND GIVES YOU ALL YOUR ENERGY!
EXPLOSIONS!

Pages in this group

• Astro Fonts Posted: Sep 24th, 2022 - Modified: Sep 28th, 2022
  A font which uses ligatures to encode symbols for the major moons.
• Notes on Astro Symbols Posted: Jun 6th, 2021 - Modified: Nov 14th, 2022
  My notes on the objects of the solar system, their symbols, and their namesakes