Planetary symbols are used inastrology and traditionally inastronomy to represent aclassical planet (which includes the Sun and the Moon) or one of the modern planets. The classical symbols were also used inalchemy for theseven metals known to the ancients, which wereassociated with the planets, and in calendars for the seven days of the week associated with the seven planets. The original symbols date toGreco-Roman astronomy; their modern forms developed in the 16th century, and additional symbols would be created later for newly discovered planets.

The seven classical planets, their symbols, days and most commonly associatedplanetary metals are:

Planet	Moon	Mercury	Venus	Sun	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn
Symbol
Unicode	U+263E ☾	U+263F ☿	U+2640 ♀	U+2609 ☉	U+2642 ♂	U+2643 ♃	U+2644 ♄
Day	Monday	Wednesday	Friday	Sunday	Tuesday	Thursday	Saturday
Metal	Silver	Quicksilver (Mercury)	Copper	Gold	Iron	Tin	Lead

TheInternational Astronomical Union (IAU) discourages the use of these symbols in modern journal articles, and their style manual proposes one- and two-letter abbreviations for the names of the planets for cases where planetary symbols might be used, such as in the headings of tables.^[1]The modern planets with their traditional symbols and IAU abbreviations are:

Planet	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune
Symbol
Unicode	U+263F ☿	U+2640 ♀	U+1F728 🜨	U+2642 ♂	U+2643 ♃	U+2644 ♄	U+26E2 ⛢	U+2646 ♆
Initial (IAU)	Me, H[a]	V	E	Ma, M[a]	J	S	U	N

The symbols of Venus and Mars are used to representfemale andmale in biology, following a convention introduced byCarl Linnaeus in the 1750s.

The origins of the planetary symbols can be found in the attributes given to classical deities. The Romanplanisphere of Bianchini (2nd century, currently in theLouvre, inv. Ma 540)^[2] shows the seven planets represented by portraits of the seven corresponding gods, each a bust with ahalo and an iconic object or dress, as follows: Mercury has acaduceus and a winged cap; Venus has a necklace and a shining mirror; Mars has a war-helmet and a spear; Jupiter has a laurel crown and a staff; Saturn has a conical headdress and a scythe; the Sun has rays emanating from his head; and the Moon has a crescent atop her head.

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  Luna with acrescent
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  Mercury with acaduceus
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  Venus with a shining mirror
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  Sol emanating rays
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  Mars with a spear
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  Jupiter with a staff
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  Saturn with ascythe

The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri.^[3][b]

Early forms are also found in medieval Byzantine codices which preserve horoscopes.^[4]

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  The symbol for the Moon in a medieval Byzantine (11th c.) ms. The appearance in late Classical times was similar.^[3]
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  The symbol for Mercury in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss^[3]
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  The symbol for Venus in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss^[3]
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  The disk with a ray as a symbol for the Sun in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss^[3]
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  The symbol for Mars in late Classical (6th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss.^[3]
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  The symbol for Jupiter in late Classical (4th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss^[3]
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  The symbol for Saturn in late Classical (4th & 5th c.) and medieval Byzantine (11th c.) mss. Cf. kappa-rho,⟨κρ⟩.^[3]

A diagram in the astronomical compendium by Johannes Kamateros (12th century) closely resembles the 11th-century forms shown above, with the Sun represented by a circle with a single ray, Jupiter by the letterzeta (the initial ofZeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a round shield in front of a diagonal spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, though without the crosses seen in modern versions of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.^{[citation needed]} These crosses first appear in the late 15th or early 16th century. According to Maunder, the addition of crosses appears to be "an attempt to give a savour of Christianity to the symbols of the old pagan gods."^[5]The modern forms of the classical planetary symbols are found in a woodcut of the seven planets in a Latin translation ofAbu Ma'shar al-Balkhi'sDe Magnis Coniunctionibus printed at Venice in 1506, represented as the corresponding gods riding chariots.^[6]

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  Early modern depiction of the planet symbols in an alchemical context (Musaeum Hermeticum, 1678)
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  Page spread (with the signs for Mars and Venus) from a 1515 illustrated edition ofAbu Ma'shar al-Balkhi'sDe Magnis Coniunctionibus (in the by translation byHerman of Carinthia,c. 1140,editio princeps by Erhard Ratdolt of Augsburg, 1489).
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  Depiction of the planets in a 15th-century Arabic manuscript of Abu Ma'shar's "Book of nativities"^[c]
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  Medievalplanisphere showing thezodiac and theclassical planets. The planets are represented by seven faces.
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  16th-century mechanical clock + calendar, using the symbols of the eponymous planets for the days of the week.
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  Planetary-metal symbols at the center of the coat of arms of theRoyal Society of Chemistry

Wikimedia Commons has media related toEarth symbols.

Earth is not one of the classical planets, as "planets" by definition were "wandering stars" as seen from Earth's surface. Earth's status as planet is a consequence ofheliocentrism in the 16th century.Nonetheless, there is a pre-heliocentric symbol for the world, now used as a planetary symbol for the Earth. This is a circle crossed by two lines, horizontal and vertical, representing the world divided by four rivers into thefour quarters of the world (often translated as the four "corners" of the world):. A variant, now obsolete, had only the horizontal line:.^[7]

A medieval European symbol for the world – theglobus cruciger, (the globe surmounted by aChristian cross) – is also used as a planetary symbol; it resembles an inverted symbol for Venus.

The planetary symbols for Earth are encoded in Unicode atU+1F728 🜨ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR VERDIGRIS andU+2641 ♁EARTH.

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  The Olympian gods, atop a-shaped world
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  Stylized Earth symbol

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  A simpleglobus cruciger
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  Threeglobi crucigeri in the coat of arms ofMaschwanden in Switzerland
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  In the flag ofUppland, the globe of theglobus cruciger is stylized as aT-and-O map,
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  In thisglobus cruciger, the cross is surmounted on acelestial orb with stars

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLuna symbols.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCrescent moon symbols.

Thecrescent shape has been used to represent the Moon since antiquity. In classical antiquity, it is worn by lunar deities (Selene/Luna,Artemis/Diana,Men, etc.) either on the head or behind the shoulders, with its horns pointing upward. The representation of the moon as a simple crescent with the horns pointing to the side (as a heraldiccrescent increscent orcrescent decrescent) is attested from late Classical times.

The same symbol can be used in a different context not for the Moon itself but for alunar phase, as part of a sequence of four symbolsfor "new moon" (U+1F311 🌑︎), "waxing" (U+263D ☽︎), "full moon" (U+1F315 🌕︎) and "waning" (U+263E ☾︎).

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  The Moon symbol, representingsilver mining, in the municipal arms ofSala in Sweden
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  The Moon symbol in the municipal arms ofSilvberg ('Silver Mountain') in Sweden
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  Stylized Moon symbol
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  The Moon for silver

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMercury symbols.

The symbol☿ forMercury is acaduceus (a staff entwined with two serpents), a symbol associated withMercury / Hermes throughout antiquity. Some time after the 11th century, a cross was added to the bottom of the staff to Christianize the symbol.^[3]

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  The god Hermes (Mercury) with his caduceus
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  The caduceus, copied from pottery
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  The caduceus in a tapestry, 3rd century
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  Mercury symbol, representing quicksilver mining, in the municipal coat of arms ofStahlberg,Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
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  Stylized Mercury symbol
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  Mercury for quicksilver

The symbol☿ was once the designated symbol for hermaphroditic or'perfect' flowers,^[8] but botanists now use⚥ for these.^[9]A related usage is for the 'worker' or 'neuter' sex amongsocial insects that is neither male nor (due to its lack of reproductive capacity) fully female, such asworker bees.^[10] More recently, it has been used to indicateintersex,transgender, ornon-binary gender.^[11]

The Unicodecodepoint isU+263F ☿MERCURY.

TheVenus symbol, ♀, consists of a circle with a smallcross below it. It is conjectured to be a depiction of the hand-mirror of the goddess, which may also explain Venus's association with theplanetary metal copper, as mirrors in antiquity were made of polished copper,^[12]though this is not certain.^[3] The addition of the cross is relatively recent – in the GreekOxyrhynchus Papyri 235, the symbols for Venus and Mercury did not have the cross on the bottom stem,^[3] and Venus appears without the cross (⚲) in Johannes Kamateros' 12th-centuryCompendium of Astrology.^[13]

Inbotany andbiology, the symbol for Venus is used torepresent the female sex, alongside the symbol forMars representing themale sex,^[14]following a convention introduced byLinnaeus in the 1750s.^[8][d]

Unicode encodes the symbol asU+2640 ♀FEMALE SIGN, in theMiscellaneous Symbols block.^[e]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVenus symbols.

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  A bronze mirror, of the type associated with Venus
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  Cupid holding up a similar mirror to Venus
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  The Venus symbol, representing copper mining, in the municipal coat of arms ofFalun Municipality in Sweden (1932)
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  Raised fist within Venus symbol, used as a symbol ofsecond-wave feminism (1960s)^[f]
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  Stylized Venus symbol
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  Venus for copper

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSun symbols.

The modern astronomical symbol for the Sun, thecircumpunct (U+2609 ☉SUN), was first used in theRenaissance. It possibly represents Apollo's golden shield with aboss.

Bianchini'splanisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows acirclet with rays radiating from it.^[5][2]In late Classical times, the Sun is attested as a circle with a single ray. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th centuryCompendium of Astrology shows the same symbol.^[17]This older symbol is encoded byUnicode asU+1F71A 🜚ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR GOLD in theAlchemical Symbols block. Both symbols have been used alchemically for gold, as have more elaborate symbols showing a disk with multiple rays or even a face.

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  A buckler with a sun symbol and dot at center
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  Stylized circumpunct symbol for the Sun
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  The Sun for gold
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  🜚, the medieval astronomical symbol for the Sun

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMars symbols.

TheMars symbol, ♂, is a depiction of a shield and a spear, indicating the god of war.^[18][19]It is also the old andobsolete symbol foriron in alchemy. In zoology and botany, it is used torepresent the male sex (alongside the astrological symbol for Venus representing the female sex),^[14] following a convention introduced byLinnaeus in the 1750s.^[8]

The symbol dates from at latest the 11th century, at which time it was an arrow across or through a circle, thought to represent the shield and spear of the god Mars; in the medieval form, for example in the 12th-centuryCompendium of Astrology by Johannes Kamateros, the spear is drawn across the shield.^[17] The GreekOxyrhynchus Papyri show a different symbol,^[3] perhaps simply a spear.^[2]

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  3rd-century coin with Mars on the reverse, with lance and shield. The same symbols were used for Athena (Pallas).
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  Mars with spear and shield, Pompeii.
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  The Mars symbol, representingiron mining, in the municipal coat of arms ofKarlskoga in Sweden
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  The Mars symbol in the municipal coat of arms ofLoppi in Finland
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  Mars symbol in the patch for NASA'sViking mission
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  Stylized Mars symbol. The spear partly crosses the shield.
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  The Mars symbol was used as the symbol for iron

Its Unicodecodepoint isU+2642 ♂MALE SIGN (♂).

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJupiter symbols.

The symbol forJupiter, ♃, was originally a Greek zeta,Ζ, with a stroke indicating that it is an abbreviation (forZeus, the Greek equivalent of Roman Jupiter).

Its Unicodecodepoint isU+2643 ♃JUPITER.

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  Jupiter and Saturn symbols in patch for NASA'sMariner Jupiter-Saturn mission
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  Stylized Jupiter symbol
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  Jupiter for tin
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  A modern form of the monogram reflects its origin in the letter 'Z'

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSaturn symbols.

Salmasius and earlier attestations show that the symbol for Saturn, ♄, derives from the initial letters (Kappa,rho) of its ancient Greek nameΚρόνος (Kronos), with astroke to indicate an abbreviation.^[8] By the time of Kamateros (12th century), the symbol had been reduced to a shape similar to a lower-case lettereta η, with the abbreviation stroke surviving (if at all) in the curl on the bottom-right end.

Its Unicodecodepoint isU+2644 ♄SATURN.

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  Emblem of theFraternitas Saturni, a Germanmagical order founded in 1926
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  The Saturn symbol representinglead in the municipal coat of arms ofBleiwäsche, since 1975 part ofBad Wünnenberg,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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  Stylized Saturn symbol
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  Saturn for lead (Pb)
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  A ligature of kappaϰ and rhoϱ forKronos, the ancestor of the symbol for Saturn

The symbols forUranus were created shortly after its discovery in 1781. One symbol, ⛢, invented byJ. G. Köhler and refined byBode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metalplatinum; since platinum, commonly called white gold, was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols foriron, ♂, andgold, ☉.^[20][21]Gold and iron are the planetary metals for the Sun and Mars, and so share their symbols. Several orientations were suggested, but an upright arrow is now universal.

Another symbol,, was suggested by Lalande in 1784. In a letter toHerschel, Lalande described it as "a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name".^[22]The platinum symbol tends to be used by astronomers, and the monogram by astrologers.^[23]

For use in computer systems, the symbols are encodedU+26E2 ⛢ASTRONOMICAL SYMBOL FOR URANUS andU+2645 ♅URANUS.

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  The planetary symbols as rendered in 1784, including the newly discovered Uranus (left)^[20]
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  The Uranus platinum symbol onWilliam Herschel's coat of arms (center, blue background)
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  Stylized Uranus monogram

Several symbols were proposed forNeptune to accompany the suggested names for the planet. Claiming the right to name his discovery,Urbain Le Verrier originally proposed to name the planet for theRoman godNeptune^[24]and the symbol of atrident,^[25]while falsely stating that this had been officially approved by the FrenchBureau des Longitudes.^[24] In October, he sought to name the planetLeverrier, after himself, and he had loyal support in this from the observatory director,François Arago,^[26]who in turn proposed a new symbol for the planet,.^[27]However, this suggestion met with resistance outside France,^[26] and French almanacs quickly reintroduced the nameHerschel forUranus, after that planet's discoverer SirWilliam Herschel, andLeverrier for the new planet,^[28]though it was used by anglophone institutions.^[29]ProfessorJames Pillans of theUniversity of Edinburgh defended the nameJanus for the new planet, and proposed a key for its symbol.^[25] Meanwhile,Struve presented the nameNeptune on December 29, 1846, to theSaint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.^[30]In August 1847, the Bureau des Longitudes announced its decision to follow prevailing astronomical practice and adopt the choice ofNeptune, with Arago refraining from participating in this decision.^[31]The planetary symbol wasNeptune's trident, with the handle stylized either as a crossed, following Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the asteroids, or as an orb, following the symbols for Uranus, Earth, and Mars.^[7] The crossed variant is the more common today.

For use in computer systems, the symbols are encoded asU+2646 ♆NEPTUNE andU+2BC9 ⯉NEPTUNE FORM TWO.

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  Athena (Pallas) with her lance and Poseidon (Neptune) with his trident. These weapons became the symbols of the planets Pallas and Neptune, respectively.
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  Poseidon with a trident, 6th century BCE
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  Poseidon with a trident, 6th century CE
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  Stylized Neptune symbol (orb base)
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  Stylized Neptune symbol (cross base)
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  ⯉, the obsolete Le Verrier monogram for Neptune

Pluto was almost universally considered a planet from its discovery in 1930 until its re-classification as adwarf planet (planetoid) by the IAU in 2006. Planetary geologists^[32]and astrologers continue to treat it as a planet. The original planetary symbol for Pluto was, amonogram of the letters P and L. Astrologers generally use abident with an orb. NASA has used the bident symbol since Pluto's reclassification. These symbols are encoded asU+2647 ♇PLUTO andU+2BD3 ⯓PLUTO FORM TWO.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPluto symbols.

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  Pluto holding a bident
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  Pluto with a bident
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  Pluto symbol stylized as an inverted Mercury
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  Pluto compared in size to Earth's moon in a NASA publication

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  ⯖, an astrological symbol used for Pluto in Germany and Denmark, representing Pluto's orbit crossing Neptune's
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  ⯔, an astrological symbol used in the Mediterranean and Germany. The globe at bottom may be larger or omitted altogether.

In the 19th century, planetary symbols for the majorasteroids were also in use, including1 Ceres (a reaper'ssickle, encodedU+26B3 ⚳CERES),2 Pallas (a lance,U+26B4 ⚴PALLAS) and3 Juno (a sceptre, encodedU+26B5 ⚵JUNO).Encke (1850) used symbols for5 Astraea,6 Hebe,7 Iris,8 Flora and9 Metis in theBerliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch.^[33]

In the late 20th century, astrologers abbreviated the symbol for4 Vesta (thesacred fire of Vesta, encodedU+26B6 ⚶VESTA),^[34]and introduced new symbols for5 Astraea (, a stylised % sign, shift-5 onQWERTY keyboards for asteroid 5),10 Hygiea encodedU+2BDA ⯚HYGIEA)^[35] and for2060 Chiron, discovered in 1977 (a key,U+26B7 ⚷CHIRON).^[34] Chiron's symbol was adapted as additional centaurs were discovered; symbols for5145 Pholus and7066 Nessus have been encoded in Unicode.^[35]The abbreviated Vesta symbol is now universal, and the astrological symbol for Pluto has been used astronomically for Pluto as a dwarf planet.^[36]

In the early 21st century, symbols for thetrans-Neptunian dwarf planets have been given Unicodecodepoints, particularlyEris (thehand of Eris, ⯰, but also ⯱),Sedna,Haumea,Makemake,Gonggong,Quaoar andOrcus which are in Unicode. All (except Eris, for which the hand of Eris is a traditionalDiscordian symbol) were devised by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts.^[36][37]

Other symbols have also been invented by Moskowitz, for some smaller TNOs as well as many planetary moons. (Charon in particular coincidentally matches a symbol already existing in Unicode as an astrological Pluto.) However, these have not been broadly adopted.^[36][38]

This article contains uncommonUnicode characters. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of the intended characters.

Unicode characters for minor planets

			Code point
Ceres		Media related toCeres symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+26B3 ⚳CERES.[39]
Pallas		Media related to(2) Pallas symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+26B4 ⚴PALLAS.[39]
Juno		Media related to(3) Juno symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+26B5 ⚵JUNO.[39]
Vesta		Media related to(4) Vesta symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+26B6 ⚶VESTA.[39]
Hygiea		Media related to(10) Hygiea symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BDA ⯚HYGIEA.[39]
Chiron		Media related toChiron symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+26B7 ⚷CHIRON.[39]
Pholus		Media related toPholus symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BDB ⯛PHOLUS
Nessus		Media related toNessus symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BDC ⯜NESSUS
Orcus		Media related toOrcus symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+1F77F 🝿ORCUS
Haumea		Media related toHaumea symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+1F77B 🝻HAUMEA
Quaoar		Media related toQuaoar symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+1F77E 🝾QUAOAR
Makemake		Media related toMakemake symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+1F77C 🝼MAKEMAKE
Gonggong		Media related toGonggong symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+1F77D 🝽GONGGONG
Eris		Media related toFive-fingered hand of Eris at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BF0 ⯰ERIS FORM ONE
		Media related toEris astrological symbol at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BF1 ⯱ERIS FORM TWO (used by astrologer Henry Seltzer)
Sedna		Media related toSedna symbols at Wikimedia Commons	U+2BF2 ⯲SEDNA

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  Ceres with her sickle
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  Athena (Pallas) with her lance (left)
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  Juno with her scepter
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  Vesta's sacred fire
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  Hygiea with her snake (old astr. symbol)
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  Petroglyph of Makemake
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  Orcus's gape
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  Ahuman-headed serpent similar to depictions ofGonggong
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  TheHand of Eris from thePrincipia Discordia

From 1845 to 1855, many symbols were created for newly discovered asteroids. But by 1851, the spate of discoveries had led to a general abandonment of these symbols in favour of numbering all asteroids instead.^[40]

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  Astraea with her scales (astronomical symbol or)
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  Hebe (mythology) bearing a cup (astr. symbol)
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  Iris as the rainbow (astr. symbol)
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  Flora dispensing flowers (astr. symbol)
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  Metis (astr. symbol)
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  Hygiea with her snake (astr. symbol)
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  Parthenope (astr. symbol)
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  Parthenope with her lyre (astr. symbol)
• 
  Victory (Victoria) with a laurel wreath (astr. symbol or)
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  Egeria (astr. symbol) dictating the laws of Rome toNuma Pompilius
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  Peace (Irene) as a freed dove (astr. symbol)
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  Peace with wings and an olive branch
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  Eunomia (astr. symbol) at left, as allegory of law and good order; Irene in centre
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  Psyche with butterfly wings (astr. symbol)
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  Psyche accompanied by a butterfly, and Hermes with a multiply twisted caduceus
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  Psyche with butterfly wings, and Charon standing in his lunate boat
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  Insignia of theNASAPsyche mission, possibly influenced by the Psyche symbol^[41]
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  Thetis with a dolphin (astro. symbol)
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  Melpomene with a dagger (astr. symbol)
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  Fortuna with her wheel (astro. symbol)
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  blindfolded Fortuna balanced on a wheel
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  Proserpina with a pomegranate (astr. symbol)
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  Bellona with a lance and flail (astro. symbol)
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  Amphitrite on a shell (astr. symbol)
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  Leukothea (astr. symbol) as goddess of sailors
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  Faith (Fides, astr. symbol) triumphs over idolatry

• Astrological symbol
• Astronomical symbol
• Gender symbol
• Classical planets in Western alchemy

Wikimedia Commons has media related toPlanet symbols.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAlchemical symbols.

• Alchemical symbols
• Astronomical symbols
• History of astrology

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