Do you land on The Mun or do you land on Mun?

[xcorps]

I land on the It Doesn't Matter.

I tried to dock with It. I forgot to turn off the MJ "Keep my nose pointed at IT" button and did a LOT of circles. I was admittedly browsing the web trying to find a mod that would let me hack into the recruitment station and set new standards for female only recruiting so I was distracted and therefore not to blame. At some point It began firing frozen shards of goo (probably leftover from all the broken canisters) at me in a misguided attempt to get my attention. The goo eventually coalesced into a large mass of undetermined geometric origin, whereupon it warned me THATS NO MOON. I looked to see what the goo was pointing at, and it was a large rocket shaped like a bottle of Lunar Cola with a flashing neon sign down one side that said "Buy at Phils! Lowest priced Philodendrons in TOWN!". I happen to collect philodendrons, so I foolishly ignored the advice of the well intentioned goo, much to my regret. Phil, it appears, simply cannot compete with Amazon.

But that's all really beside the point. It Doesn't Matter was just ...right.

[Silverchain]

Earth's moon is called The Moon, or the Moon. It is also called Luna (e.g. Russian, Latin), Selene and a whole bunch of related terms right back to PIE, and a vast number of other things from other languages. There isn't and can't be a definitive, universally agreed-upon name for it, but if you ask random English speaking people (I just asked some people what the big white round thing in the sky at night was called which got me strange looks) they'll call it the Moon.

[irongut]

Where I live it would not be surprising to hear someone say that Neil Armstrong landed on the Mun due to local accents. So its The Mun for me.

[blizzy78]

Technically, the CelestialBody class in KSP has an attribute "theName", which is supposed to be used in sentences like "I landed on [theName]." For the Mun and the Sun, it returns "the Mun" and "the Sun", respectively, whereas for all other bodies, it just returns the same as CelestialBody.name (for example, it returns "Kerbin" for Kerbin.)

So, my answer would be to "land on the Mun."

[morph113]

Actually, it's a natural satellite. Earth's satellite is called the Moon. It's a common misconception that satellites are 'moons'. There is only one Moon, as there is only one Earth, as there is only one Europa, etc.

It's just socially accepted that all satellite's are called 'moons' now.

I had to smile when I read this, because what you think is in fact a common misconception some people have. Although the earths moon is called "The Moon", the term moon is also correctly used for natural satellites of other celestial bodies. I write celestial bodies and not planets because technically also moons can have their own moons, although none are known in our solar system at the moment. You can read it up if you want, how the terminology of natural satellites changed over time. First they were called planets by the way, obviously at the very beginning. Since quiet some time ago, they are refered by scientists as either moons or natural satellite. The term moon is actually used way more frequently by scientists and natural sattelite is often used just to avoid a confusion with the Moon. But if you are speaking about the moons of Jupiter or the moons of Saturn, then it's perfectly correct and and not possible to confuse with the Moon.

But back to topic. Because pronouncing the word "Mun" with typical German language pronunciation (I am German) sounds exactly like the english word "moon" and because the Mun is the counterpart of earths moon, I always say I landed on "the Mun". For other moons (or muns) or planets however I skip the "the" of course.

Edited February 27, 2014 by morph113

[Streetwind]

The moon that orbits Earth is called Luna. (...) Calling it "The Moon" or "Moon" is incorrect. Moon is not its name, its a descriptive.

You might as well try to call our sun "Sun" instead of its name which is "Sol"!

Source plz?

The authority responsible for naming celestial objects and features is the IAU, the International Astronomical Union. This organization is almost a hundred years old, and is internationally accredited by pretty much every university, college and scientific organization dealing with astronomy out there, as well as the United Nations (who is, regardless what anyone else might tell you, the only organization which has any sort of legislative power beyond the Karman line).

And according to the IAU, "Moon" and "Sun" are proper names in the English language. They are even meant to be capitalized to distinguish the proper name status. Jupiter may have many "moons" (lower case), which is indeed a descriptive, but the "Moon" (uppercase) is a name that can never refer to any other than Earth's moon. It is a fixed definition, much like "earth" (lowercase) is a kind of brown dirt but "Earth" (uppercase) is the given English name of our home planet.

That does not mean that "Luna" and "Sol" are not proper names. They very much are - in latin. And in Germany, you would be calling them "Mond" und "Sonne". Over in Japan, they say "月" and "太陽". This does not make these names any more right or wrong than other names - they are the proper names, in that language. Space belongs to humankind as a whole, without borders of nationality; but down here on earth we still have them, and with them all of the rich cultural differences they bring, including languages. It is perfectly acceptable, and intended by the IAU, that each language has its own proper names for those important celestials that people care about on a daily basis and that have borne those names since ancient times.

It is only for objects discovered after the formation of the IAU that single, internationally valid names are given to celestial objects. An example is Eris, our biggest dwarf planet. Even in Japan it is called "エリス" (e - ri - su) because that's the only proper name that exists for it.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Streetwind

[peadar1987]

This came up in another thread. Call the Moon Luna if you want, I don't care, but don't be a snob about it. On the most technical, pedantic of levels, you are officially wrong if you are speaking English, and that's the level you're trying to discuss things on.

[morph113]

Nope, except by lazy americans in nasa.

The moon that orbits Earth is called Luna.

Calling it "The moon" is acceptable, if a bit bigoted, as it is the only naked-eye-visible moon we have.

Calling it "The Moon" or "Moon" is incorrect. Moon is not its name, its a descriptive.

Even nasa is inconsistent with their naming.. They refer to Luna as "Moon", yet when talking of building a lander for it, they call it a "Lunar" lander not a "Moonar" lander.

You might as well try to call our sun "Sun" instead of its name which is "Sol"!

Also here a little correction. The word "Luna" is actually latin, as some already mentioned. You can call the moon in whatever language you like. This does not change the fact, that earths moon is correctly named and called the moon in english. If you would talk to any scientist, no matter where they are from, the would have a smile on their face if you tried explaining them that the sun is not called sun or the moon not moon. Regarding the term "lunar", this derived from the latin word for moon "Luna" of course by just adding an "r" and is currently the only used adjective regarding the moon in english. They just didn't come up with a better adjective for the moon. If you find a good adjective deriving from the word moon then let us know. But please don't say moonar just because it rhimes with lunar.

[peadar1987]

Also here a little correction. The word "Luna" is actually latin, as some already mentioned. You can call the moon in whatever language you like. This does not change the fact, that earths moon is correctly named and called the moon in english. If you would talk to any scientist, no matter where they are from, the would have a smile on their face if you tried explaining them that the sun is not called sun or the moon not moon. Regarding the term "lunar", this derived from the latin word for moon "Luna" of course by just adding an "r" and is currently the only used adjective regarding the moon in english. They just didn't come up with a better adjective for the moon. If you find a good adjective deriving from the word moon then let us know. But please don't say moonar just because it rhimes with lunar.

I was always a fan of "Selenian".

[KSK]

I always land on 'the Mun' (with umlaut added) in the same way that Armstrong landed on 'the Moon'. I like the idea of mun being the generic kerbal word for natural satellite though.

Oh - and I definitely go into Munar orbit, perform a trans-Munar injection burn etc. etc.

[Delltron]

Both are fine, as it is still a proper noun. Mun is not the kerbal word for moon, otherwise ike would be referred to as the mun of Duna rather than the moon.

[Tank Buddy]

I say "I land on the Mun (Moon)"

[StainX]

Let's land on Mün!

[ArmchairGravy]

I don't land on the Minmus or the Duna, so why should I land on the Mun?

[TheDarkStar]

I land on the Mün. I've never actually noticed it without the "the" with it, though.

[-ELF-]

I am russian, so I have no actual hearing difference between Mun and The Mun.

My inner perception reads these words THE same but in THE second case without something at THE beginning that means nothing when translated to THE russian language.

I do understand why "THE" must be used, but I will rarely see that there is one missing.

I am very sorry, I do not want to offense anybody, it is just my point of view.

I personally prefer to land "on Mun", while in russian The Moon is called Luna. %)

[psyper]

My headcanon is that "mun" and "Mun" mean the same to kerbals as "moon" and "Moon" mean to us, respectively. They call Laythe, Vall, Tylo, etc. the Joolian muns; Ike is the mun of Duna; and so on. But anytime they refer to "the Mun" it is understood they are talking about the larger mun of Kerbin. Just my $0.02.

This is my stance on it as well. I wonder if theres a different in perspective between those that started playing the game before and those after Minmus?

[darkmuminek]

I just crash on THE moon OF Mün

[lajoswinkler]

Księżyc, Ay, Mjesec, etc - in other languages.

The Moon - in English because of historical reasons.

Mun is not an English word. Therefore, "the Mun" is completely unnecessary. Mun is not the Moon. Its name is a pun, but it represents a totally different body.

[Pecan]

;995266']I am very sorry' date=' I do not want to offense anybody, it is just my point of view...[/quote']

Relax, I can't think how anything you said would offend anyone. On the contrary, I think this debate is better informed by having opinions from non-English speakers.

[Vostok]

Due to the nature of gravitational attraction, I prefer to say that the Mun landed on me.

[PDCWolf]

Actually, it's a natural satellite. Earth's satellite is called the Moon. It's a common misconception that satellites are 'moons'. There is only one Moon, as there is only one Earth, as there is only one Europa, etc.

It's just socially accepted that all satellite's are called 'moons' now.

Moon and "Natural Satellite" are synonyms.

I personally prefer to land "on Mun", while in russian The Moon is called Luna. %)

We call it Luna too. Also, both "Luna" and "Satelite Natural" (Natural Satellite) are synonyms in spanish too.

[NovaSilisko]

I just call it "the moon", myself

[EndOfTheEarth]

I've always called it 'The Mun', which is weird because I use the same syntax for it as The Moon IRL, and yet Minmus is always 'Minmus', never 'the Minmus', despite both functionally having the same definition and orbital situation.

[tntristan12]

"Müna!"