Our Moon Needs a Name
The moon has no name.
The Moon doesn't have a name. Well, it does, but the name is just 'The Moon'.
"You're wrong," I hear you say, "It's Luna. Everyone knows that."
Well no, everyone does not know that because the official proper name of Earth's moon is simply The Moon. And our sun isn't named Sol. It's official name is The Sun. That's all. And our solar system is just called The Solar System. I'm not even sure if any of those were supposed to be capitalized. I'm just going to give it the benefit of the doubt.
The Milky Way can be seen on a clear night if you can get away from all the light pollution.
Our galaxy has a name. It's called the Milky Way. On a perfectly clear night, such as they used to have in ancient Greece, the big band of stars that makes up the thickness of our galaxy makes a milky white path through the sky. It's harder to see now, but this 'Milky Way' is definitely there.
The word galaxy came from the ancient Greek work for milky.
Do you drink milk? Maybe you or someone you know can't drink milk. Many people are lactose intolerant. Lactose, the sugar in milk, is made up of glucose and galactose. Galactose… galaxy… Can you see the connection? The ancient greek word for milky was γαλαξίας (galaxías). The very word for galaxy comes from the name of ours. The point is our galaxy gets a name. Why should it be named, but not our sun or moon or solar system? Because it's bigger, you say? Well the universe is even bigger, but it doesn't get a name, either. So that point in invalid. Either way, the universe can take care of itself. Let's scale this discussion back down.
Pluto didn’t deserve the hate.
We really need to do something about this. You know there are plenty of celestial bodies in our own solar system who are desperately trying not to be noticed by our scientists. Everyone saw what happened to Pluto, and nobody wants to be the next in line for a demotion. But our sun and moon can't really hide. They are Earth's major luminaries. They just hang around in the sky, constantly worrying if this is the day they get fired or possible killed like some red-shirted security ensign with no name. We need to give them proper names! They are not just "and the rest." They are “The Professor and Mary Ann!" Or at least they are Sol and Luna. Everyone seems to think those are their names anyway, so let's make it official. I think that will go a long way towards raising morale out there. It doesn't matter how much greenhouse gas we have in our atmosphere. That sun is sending us the heat. And you know who sloshes our oceans around in a big way? Our moon! Can we just appease them a little before another record breaking hurricane comes to finish off Louisiana completely? That's where we get gumbo and jazz! Those things are very important! Also there are people there.
We need to stay on good terms with the celestial neighbors. Gravity sucks, and we're all in this together.
