by Chris Peterson » Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:58 pm
johnhami@bellsouth.net wrote:In your April 7, 2010 APOD, you refer to Mars and Venus as Evening Stars. I know this is a time honored tag for each but why not call a planet a planet and a star a star? Thanks, a daily APOD reader.
In my English dictionary, there are at least two definitions of
star that are perfectly consistent with this usage. That is, depending on context, it is perfectly correct to call a planet a star. Even when the image is astronomical in nature, the terminology may still be reasonable. This image is more about aesthetics than it is about the underlying astronomy; the use of some poetic language (time honored, as you say) is rather appropriate, I think.
[quote="johnhami@bellsouth.net"]In your April 7, 2010 APOD, you refer to Mars and Venus as Evening Stars. I know this is a time honored tag for each but why not call a planet a planet and a star a star? Thanks, a daily APOD reader.[/quote]
In my English dictionary, there are at least two definitions of [i]star[/i] that are perfectly consistent with this usage. That is, depending on context, it is perfectly correct to call a planet a star. Even when the image is astronomical in nature, the terminology may still be reasonable. This image is more about aesthetics than it is about the underlying astronomy; the use of some poetic language (time honored, as you say) is rather appropriate, I think.