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The word planet comes from Ancient Greek virtually unchanged, but unlike the word star covered in the last post, the word planet comes from a verb that was used to modify the word star:  (asteres) planetai, or wandering stars.  The Greek word planao meant cause to wander, lead astray, even travel abroad.  When it was applied to stars it meant the stars that were not fixed in the sky but rather moved around over the course of the year. 

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http://www.talkingscience.org/category/parent/science-dad/

Images of the planets courtesy NASA.  Apologies to Pluto, now classified as a dwarf planet or redundantly a plutoid. 

October 24, 2011
7:09 PM
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