Actually though, wouldn't they know about planets already? After all, people in ancient Egypt and Greece knew about the nearest planets. Mars, Venus and Jupiter are visible with the naked eye. But I admit, I'm not an astronomer, and I don't really know how they differentiated planet from star.
Oooh, I know the answer! Not an astronomer or historian, but I have amateur curiosity about both.
The word "planet" comes from "wander", because in contrast to the stars, which all move together as a unit, seven celestial objects move relative to the stars: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Most ancient societies that paid any attention to the skies recognized those seven.
Now, Pern. Since they had to watch for the Red Star, they'd probably have to have some awareness of the night sky. So they'd notice that there were other point lights that moved independently of the stars. They might have forgotten that those point lights were basically other Perns, but they'd know of their existence. They'd probably also pay special attention to other planets, in case any of them become a threat like the Red Star. (Which should probably be called "Red Planet", or whatever word they came up with for moving point lights in the sky.)
And now I'm wondering what Pern's model of the universe is. Almost all ancient civilizations had a geocentric model, because it was more intuitive based on what they saw. But since they're descendants of astronauts, would they have retained any of that knowledge?
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Oooh, I know the answer! Not an astronomer or historian, but I have amateur curiosity about both.
The word "planet" comes from "wander", because in contrast to the stars, which all move together as a unit, seven celestial objects move relative to the stars: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Most ancient societies that paid any attention to the skies recognized those seven.
Now, Pern. Since they had to watch for the Red Star, they'd probably have to have some awareness of the night sky. So they'd notice that there were other point lights that moved independently of the stars. They might have forgotten that those point lights were basically other Perns, but they'd know of their existence. They'd probably also pay special attention to other planets, in case any of them become a threat like the Red Star. (Which should probably be called "Red Planet", or whatever word they came up with for moving point lights in the sky.)
And now I'm wondering what Pern's model of the universe is. Almost all ancient civilizations had a geocentric model, because it was more intuitive based on what they saw. But since they're descendants of astronauts, would they have retained any of that knowledge?