Matthew Susaman, age 9, of Decatur, Georgia, for his question:

Who named the planet Mars?

The Romans worshipped gods and goddesses    and Mars was their god of war. They imagined him as a fiery, hot tempered fellow, just waiting for an excuse to start a fight. Naturally they wanted to stay on his side. So they did things that they thought would please him. They named one of the planets in his honor. It was, of course, the planet that glows in our skies with a fiery red color. When gods and goddesses went out of style, nobody thought of changing the planet's name.

We still call it the planet Mars, though we no longer believe that wars are started by a bad tempered god. Two thousand years ago, the Romans built temples to Mars. In the spring season they made special sacrifices, hoping to please him. They named the month of March in his honor, and we still call it the month of March.