Astronomical symbol

Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in Europeanastronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late antiquity. The Byzantinecodices in which many Greek papyrus texts were preserved continued and extended the inventory of astronomical symbols. New symbols have been invented to represent many planets and minor planets discovered in the 18th to the 21st centuries.