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The Galilean moons are all named after Zeus' lovers. They were named shortly after their discovery in the early 1600s by Simon Marius, a German astronomer who a

by baddox 10y ago

The Galilean moons are all named after Zeus' lovers. They were named shortly after their discovery in the early 1600s by Simon Marius, a German astronomer who apparently discovered the moons independently of Galileo at roughly the same time as Galileo.

narag 10y ago
Then Europe, the continent, was defined later by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev
- gus_massa 10y ago
  The Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about the story of the name of Europe. Do you have a link about it?
  - narag 10y ago
    Not in English, sorry. He was the author of some kind of paper to defend that Russia was part of Europe, not Asia. Edit: Oh, I'd read too fast. The history of the name is in the article for Europe that mnl linked above. This guy didn't invent the name that, as mnl noted, was used since... forever. He just happened to define what we call Europe today. In classical Greece it was used to mean the lands west and north of Greece. They didn't know of, let's say, Scandinavia.
- mnl 10y ago
  Huh? It's a geographical term for the mass of land that has been in use since the classical antiquity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology
  - narag 10y ago
    The meaning at the time was not so inclusive though.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    Similarly, "Asia" has been used since antiquity as a term for the Near East, but for almost all of that time it certainly did not refer to what we now call "the continent of Asia". Are you more likely to think of Asia as containing Syria or China?
ridgeguy 10y ago
And a little OT, but Jupiter's wife, Juno, is due to arrive in orbit this coming July 4th. [1] Juno was no shrinking violet [2]. Should make for an interesting telemetry stream... [1] https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology)

by baddox 10y ago

narag 10y ago

Then Europe, the continent, was defined later by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Tatishchev

gus_massa 10y ago
The Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about the story of the name of Europe. Do you have a link about it?
- narag 10y ago
  Not in English, sorry. He was the author of some kind of paper to defend that Russia was part of Europe, not Asia. Edit: Oh, I'd read too fast. The history of the name is in the article for Europe that mnl linked above. This guy didn't invent the name that, as mnl noted, was used since... forever. He just happened to define what we call Europe today. In classical Greece it was used to mean the lands west and north of Greece. They didn't know of, let's say, Scandinavia.
mnl 10y ago
Huh? It's a geographical term for the mass of land that has been in use since the classical antiquity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology
- narag 10y ago
  The meaning at the time was not so inclusive though.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  Similarly, "Asia" has been used since antiquity as a term for the Near East, but for almost all of that time it certainly did not refer to what we now call "the continent of Asia". Are you more likely to think of Asia as containing Syria or China?

ridgeguy 10y ago

And a little OT, but Jupiter's wife, Juno, is due to arrive in orbit this coming July 4th. [1] Juno was no shrinking violet [2]. Should make for an interesting telemetry stream... [1] https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/#/mission [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(mythology)