Everyday Astronomy

One of this month's IYA themes is the solar system. And I'll bet you think that the topic doesn't have much to do with your everyday life. Unless you're an astrogeek like me, or you're unlucky enough to have a momstronomer like Little Dudestronomer. (Fortunately, he's too young to know that he's being submitted to torturous geekery every day of his life.) But even if you are not as nerdy as I am, I'm here to tell you that you and the solar system are closer than you think every single day.
Here is just one of the ways that the solar system affects your life. What day of the week is it? No matter what you answered, your response is something in our solar system. Give it a moment; I'll even give you a hint: can you think of any days that might be associated with the sun, the moon or Saturn?


[Waiting for your moment to pass...]


OK, so you have realized that Sunday is really Sun Day. Named after the sun. Monday is really Moon Day. And Saturday is Saturn Day.
This goes back to the Greeks, who named the days of the week after the sun, moon and five known planets (each of which were named after gods). The other days get a little trickier, because we have to trace them back to other languages. The first three are almost direct translations, but from here on out, we're going on an astrolinguistic journey. (I'm pretty sure that's not a real word.)
Tuesday comes from Tui - Tui's Day, which is the Germanicized version of the Norse god of war, Tyr. That Norse god can be traced back further to the Roman god of war, Mars. In fact, if you're a Spanish speaker*, you know that Tuesday in Spanish is martes, which is an even closer link. (Days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish.) If you're Greek, you'll be angry if I leave out the fact that the Romans' Mars was originally the Greeks' Ares.
Wednesday comes from Woden, the Ango-Saxon relative of the Norse God, Odin. Odin was the the counterpart of the Roman god Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks). Again, Spanish speakers might now see the connection with miércoles.
Thursday comes from Thor (Thor's Day). Thor is the Norse version of Jupiter, which is the Roman version of the Greek Zeus. For Spanish speakers, you will want to know that Jupiter has another Roman name, Jove.
Friday comes from Freya, the Norse goddess of love and beauty. Process of elimination will lead to know that the Roman goddess of love and beauty is Venus (Aphrodite to the Greeks).
So there you have it. Whether you knew it or not, you've been proudly displaying the solar system on your calendar. You probably plan events in your life around the planets; for example, you might watch American Idol on the day of Mars and the day of Mercury, but football is king on the day of the moon. You call your mom on the day of the sun, you go to yoga on the day of Jupiter and you TGI Venus.


*This goes for French and Latin as well, but interestingly not for Portuguese.