Classical planet Classical planet In classical antiquity, the seven classical planets were the seven non-fixed astronomical objects in the sky visible to the naked eye: Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, the Sun, and the Moon. The word "planet" comes from two related Greek words, πλάνης "planēs" (whence πλάνητες ἀστέρες "planētes asteres" "wandering stars, planets") and πλανήτης "planētēs", both with the original meaning of "wanderer", expressing the fact that these objects move across the celestial sphere relative to the fixed stars. The term "planet" in modern terminology is only applied to natural satellites directly orbiting the Sun, so that of the seven classical
Planet only planet whose name in English is not derived from Greco-Roman mythology. Because it was only generally accepted as a planet in the 17th century, there is no tradition of naming it after a god. (The same is true, in English at least, of the Sun and the Moon, though they are no longer generally considered planets.) The name originates from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon word "erda", which means ground or soil and was first used in writing as the name of the sphere of Earth perhaps around 1300. As with its equivalents in the other Germanic languages, it derives