page_title: Astronomical symbols
hierarchical_section_title: Astronomical symbols
caption_attribution_description: English: Table "Designation of the celestial bodies", from the last issue of the "Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch" (astromomical yearbook of Berlin) which uses symbols instead of encircled numbers for the "minor planets" (which today are called either "dwarf planets" or "asteroids")
context_page_description: Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in European astronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late antiquity. The Byzantine codices in which many Greek papyrus texts were preserved continued and extended the inventory of astronomical symbols. New symbols were further invented to represent many newly-discovered planets and minor planets discovered in the 18th to the 20th centuries.
  These symbols were once commonly used by professional astronomers, amateur astronomers, alchemists, and astrologers. While they are still commonly used in almanacs and astrological publications, their occurrence in published research and texts on astronomy is relatively infrequent, with some exceptions such as the Sun and Earth symbols appearing in astronomical constants, and certain zodiacal signs used to represent the solstices and equinoxes.
  Unicode has formally assigned code points to most symbols, mainly in the Miscellaneous Symbols Block and the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs Block.
context_section_description: Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in European astronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late antiquity. The Byzantine codices in which many Greek papyrus texts were preserved continued and extended the inventory of astronomical symbols. New symbols were further invented to represent many newly-discovered planets and minor planets discovered in the 18th to the 20th centuries.
  These symbols were once commonly used by professional astronomers, amateur astronomers, alchemists, and astrologers. While they are still commonly used in almanacs and astrological publications, their occurrence in published research and texts on astronomy is relatively infrequent, with some exceptions such as the Sun and Earth symbols appearing in astronomical constants, and certain zodiacal signs used to represent the solstices and equinoxes.
  Unicode has formally assigned code points to most symbols, mainly in the Miscellaneous Symbols Block and the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs Block.
caption: "Designation of celestial bodies" in a German almanac printed in 1850[1]
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