From Rhadamanthus + -ine, after Rhadamanthus, a king in Greek myths.
I recently realised that I haven’t got round to unpacking my word calendar but in the meantime I came across this word today and liked it very much.
Categories
Tag: greek mythology
Snapped by the Hubble telescope this is a pretty rare thing to be able to see. From left to right we have:
- Enceladus – named after one of the Gigantes, Enceladus has water ice on its surface and could have liquid water too which raises the possibility of it supporting life
- Dione – is apparently named after an archaic Greek goddess/Titan who might be Aphrodite’s mother (though I was fairly sure Aphrodite was born from Uranus’s genitals and not much else), Dione also has surface ice and ‘wispy terrain’
- Titan – named for the Titans is the only body in the solar system (apart from Earth) that appears to have stable bodies of surface liquid (methane)
- Mimas – named after another Gigante, Mimas kinda looks a bit like the Death Star
