How do you say the names of the planets in Spanish? We'll start off today's lesson by telling you how and then follow up with some simple astronomical vocabulary. 

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The Names of the Planets in Spanish

The names of the planets in Spanish are as follows: 

1. Mercurio = Mercury

2. Venus = Venus

3. La Tierra = (the) Earth

4. Marte = Mars

5. Júpiter = Jupiter

6. Saturno = Saturn

7. Urano = Uranus

8. Neptuno = Neptune

Now that you know what the planets are called in Spanish, let's take a look at a few examples from our Yabla Spanish library where their names are mentioned:

El planeta Marte alguna vez tuvo ríos, lagos y mares.

The planet Mars once had rivers, lakes, and seas.

Caption 6, Yabla informa - Noticias con Cleer

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The clip you just heard is from a news segment by Yabla's Cleer which delves into the mystery of what happened to the water on Mars. Let's see another clip that mentions the name of a planet, this time from a song:

We shouldn't neglect to mention that, as you may know, what was formerly considered to be the ninth planet, Pluto, was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006. The name for Pluto in Spanish is Plutón.

Additional Astronomical Vocabulary in Spanish

And, speaking of the moon, we thought you might be interested in learning how to say "the moon," "the sun," and some other basic vocabulary related to our solar system:

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1. la luna = the moon

2. el sol = the sun

3. la estrella = the star 

4. el planeta = the planet

5. la galaxia = the galaxy 

6. la Vía Láctea = the Milky Way

7. el cometa = the comet

8. el agujero negro/el hoyo negro = the black hole 

9. la nave espacial = the spaceship 

10. la constelación = the constellation

11. el sistema solar = the solar system

12. la teoría del Big Bang = the Big Bang theory

13. el eclipse = the eclipse

14. la astronomía = astronomy

15. el telescopio = the telescope

Now, let's take a look at a several of these terms in action:

eh... finalmente viene el universo, que es la Vía Láctea.

um... finally comes the universe, which is the Milky Way.

Caption 31, Guillermo el chamán - Los rituales

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Se le llama Las Siete Luminarias porque hay siete volcanes

It's called The Seven Luminaries because there are seven volcanoes

que forman la Osa Mayor, que es la constelación de la Osa Mayor.

which make up Ursa Major, which is the Ursa Major constellation.

Captions 13-14, Guillermo el chamán - La tecnología maya

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Lo que no sabemos, es de qué planeta son estos niños.

What we don't know is from what planet these kids are.

Son del planeta Tierra.

They are from planet Earth.

Captions 5-6, Salvando el planeta Palabra - Llegada - Part 3

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La nave rusa Soyuz ha despegado desde el centro espacial europeo de Kourou

The Russian spaceship Soyuz has taken off from the European space center in Kourou

Caption 3, Europa Abierta - Galileo vs. GPS

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Note that la nave can be used as a shorter way to say "the spaceship" in lieu of la nave espacial. The clip in which this video is found deals with the history of the European space program, in case you are interested in checking it out!

That's alll for today. We hope you've enjoyed this lesson on basic astronomical terms in Spanish, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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