Planet When subsequent planets were discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries, the naming practice was retained with "Neptūnus" (Poseidon). Uranus is unique in that it is named for a Greek deity rather than his Roman counterpart. Some Romans, following a belief possibly originating in Mesopotamia but developed in Hellenistic Egypt, believed that the seven gods after whom the planets were named took hourly shifts in looking after affairs on Earth. The order of shifts went Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon (from the farthest to the closest planet). Therefore, the first day was started by Saturn (1st hour), second
The Message to the Planet The Message to the Planet The Message to the Planet is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1989, it was her twenty-fourth novel. "The Message to the Planet" centres on Marcus Vallar, a charismatic former mathematician and painter who has abandoned both these pursuits, and on a group of London friends, former associates of Vallar, with whom he has broken off contact. The plot begins with the decision of Alfred Ludens, a young history professor, to seek out his former mentor Vallar in the hope that he can restore his friend Patrick Fenman to health. Fenman is apparently dying