Cool Space Themed Sports Team Names​ & Meaning

Space themed sports team names have a long pro history. Minnesota North Stars took theirs from the state motto, L’Étoile du Nord, in 1967.

The Houston Rockets started in San Diego in 1967 and USED the name after a move to Houston in 1971.

List of 91 Space Themed Sports Team Names:

Perihelion Prowlers

Perihelion is a special point iin the orbit of a planet.

Oort Cloud Outlaws

In 1950 Dutch astronomer Jan Oort (ORT) proposed this icy shell of comets.

Terminator Line Tigers

From terminare, “to set a limit,” is a line between day and night on the natural satellite.

Lagrange Legion

Lagrange points are five positions where a small body can be positioned between two large ones.

Parsec Pack

Parsec combines “parallax” and “second” in one unit of about 3.26 light-years.

Umbra Unit

Umbra is Latin for shadow. During a total solar eclipse, Moon’s umbra sweeps over Earth at 1,700 km/h.

Ejecta Eagles

Ejecta is Latin for “things thrown out”, debris an impact sprays around a crater. Rays from Moon’s Tycho crater run for over 1,500 km.

Zenith Zealots

Arabic samt ar-ras, “path over the head”.

Millisecond Pulsars

Pulsar is short for “pulsating star.” PSR J1748-2446ad spins 716 times a second.

Nadir Nomads

Arabic nazir is meaning “opposite”, as in a point opposite to zenith.

Perigee Pirates

”Around” or ”enclousing.”

Photon Sphere Phantoms

It comes from Greek phos, light. Photon sphere is a zone around a black hole where luminosity can circle.

Super-Earth Spartans

It is a rocky world bigger our planet and smaller than Neptune.

Hypervelocity Hurricanes

Hyper is Greek for “over.” Hypervelocity stars get flung out of Milky Way by its central black hole.

Rogue Planet Raptors

A rogue planet drifts through space with no star to rotate.

Gravity Assist Gators

Gravity is from gravitas, heaviness. Mariner 10 made the first planned gravity assist in 1974. Gator has roots in Spanish el lagarto, “lizard.”

Chromosphere Chiefs

Chroma, “color”, Sun’s reddish middle layer, seen as a pink rim during totality. Save

Specific Impulse Squadron

Specific impulse measures how much push an engine gets from each unit of propellant. Squadron is from squadra, a square of soldiers.

Van Allen Vandals

James Van Allen’s instrument on Explorer 1 found Earth’s radiation belts in 1958. Vandals were a Germanic people who sacked Rome in 455.

Bow Shock Bandits

A bow shock forms where the solar wind enters a magnetic field. Bandit comes from Italian bandito, a banished man.Save

Apophis Avengers

Apophis is a variant of Apep, Egyptian serpent of chaos. On Friday, 13 April 2029, asteroid passes closer to Gaia than many communication satellites.

Hoba Meteorites

It comes from Hoba West farm in Namibia, where Jacobus Brits struck a 60 ton iron with his plough in 1920. I like it for a team that never gives up ground.

Dimorphos Deflectors

“Two forms.”

Proteus Pioneers

Voyager 2 saw this Neptune moon in 1989.

Aldebaran Eye

Arabic al-dabaran, “follower”. The red star is symbolizing ”glaring eye” of Taurus.

Auriga Charioteers

Auriga means ”charioteer” or “wagoner”.

Eta Carinae Eruption

Carina means keel, a piece of the ship constellation Argo. In 1843 Eta Carinae flared into 2nd brightest heavenly body in thr night sky.

Proxima Centaurions

Proxima is “nearest”, and this red dwarf is 4.24 light-years away. Centurion is a Roman officer over 100 men.

Monoceros Unicorns

Monoceros (pronounced as muh-NOSS-er-us) is Greek for “one-horned.” Dutch mapmaker Petrus Plancius added the constellation in 1612.

Canis Major Mastiffs

Canis Major is “greater dog”. “Dog days” of summer come from Sirius rising with the sun.

Saturn V Stack

Stack is NASA slang for a fully assembled rocket, and Saturn is Roman god of sowing.

Sagittarius Archers

Look to this constellation and you face Milky Way’s core.

Voyager Golden Records

Two gold-plated copper discs launched in 1977 have 115 images and greetings in 55 languages.Save

Soyuz Squadron

Soyuz is Russian for “union.” After the shuttle retired in 2011, it was the only ride to the space station until 2020.

Cosmic Web Weavers

Cosmic web is a net of galaxy filaments.

Gemini Giants

”Twin giants.”

Lunar Gateway

NASA designed Gateway to circle our natural satellite that takes about 7 days per loop.

Dark Matter Mob

In 1933 Fritz Zwicky wrote of “dunkle Materie” after galaxies in Coma Cluster moved too fast. Mob shortens mobile vulgus, fickle crowd.

Wormhole Warriors

Physicist John Wheeler borrowed the picture of a worm tunnelling through an apple.

Gamma Ray Bursters

Gamma is the third letter of Greek alphabet.

Quantum Foam Fighters

Quantum foam describes spacetime at Planck length, at 1.6 x 10^-35 m.

Radio Burst

Radio comes from radius, a ray or spoke.

Neutron Star Ninjas

Ninja is Japanese for a person of stealth. Neutron matter packs tightly that a teaspoon weighs 1 billion tonnes.

Solar Wind Warriors

Solar comes from sol. Eugene Parker predicted the solar wind in 1958.

Kilonova Kings

Kilonova seen on 17 August 2017 forged gold and platinum.

Binary Star Blitz

Binary has origins in bini, “two by two” while Blitz is German for lightning.

Fermi Paradox

Paradox combines para (”against”) and doxa (”opinion”).

Cosmic Crusaders

Victor Hess found cosmic rays from a balloon in 1912 and won the Nobel Prize for it in 1936.

Nebula Knights

Nebula means “mist.”

Quasar Quest

Hong-Yee Chiu shortened quasi-stellar radio source to quasar.

Plasma Pythons

Python is the serpent Apollo killed at Delphi.

Event Horizon Hornets

Horizon has roots in horizon kyklos, bounding circle.

Black Hole Bandits

I recommended it for a region glow can’t escape.

Zero Gravity Gang

Zero reached Europe from Arabic sifr, empty.

Antimatter Army

”Against.”

Dwarf Planet Defenders

It is round but has not cleared its orbit. IAU created the class on 24 August 2006, and the list has five members: Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.

Moon Base Mavericks

It comes from Old English mona.

Andromeda Angels

Persian astronomer al-Sufi recorded the galaxy as a “little cloud”. Diminutives that I like are Andie and Meda.

Milky Way Jokers

Myth says the band formed from milk spilled by Hera.

Spacesuit Squad

A spacesuit is a wearable pressure vessel. ILC Dover sewed the suits worn on Moon.

North Nation

Polaris is symbolizing fixed direction for sailors.

Oxygen Tanks

Antoine Lavoisier named oxygen in 1777 from oxys (sharp, acid) and genes (producer).

Velocity Vultures

Velocity is from velox, swift.

First Contact Crew

First contact is a term for humanity’s first meeting with alien life.

UFO Unit

UFO stands for unidentified flying object. Captain Edward Ruppelt of Project Blue Book used it first.

Alien Invaders

“Belonging to another”.

Flying Saucers

Pilot Kenneth Arnold said that the objects moved like a saucer skipped over water. Reporters turned his description of motion into a shape.

Martian Mob

Martian comes from Mars, Roman war god.

Area 51 Agents

Area 51 is a US Air Force site in Nevada desert. CIA confirmed its existence in documents released in August 2013.

Little Green Men

Pulp slang uses the phrase for small aliens.

Invaders from Orbit

It is a wheel track.

Outer Orbit

Neptune takes 165 years to go around the sun. It finished its first full revolution since its discovery in July 2011.

Intergalactic Express

Intergalactic space is the physical space between galaxies. It has 1 atom per cubic meter.

Far Side Phantoms

Far side is the half of Moon we don’t see.

Perseid Pumas

Catholics call the Perseids the Tears of St. Lawrence, whose feast is on 10 August. Puma is a Quechua word.

Meteor Shower

”Things high in the air.”

Sun Chasers

Chase comes from Old French chacier. I rate this the best pick for a running club.

Firmament Flyers

Firmamentum is meaning “a support.”

Red Supergiants

Betelgeuse is best-known red supergiant located at the shoulder of Orion.

Astros

Short for astronauts.

Space Marshals

Marshal started as Old High German marahscalc, a servant who tended horses. Space comes from spatium, room or distance.

Mars Rovers

A pirate, from Middle Dutch roven, to rob.

Rocket Fuel

Rocket has origins in Italian rocchetta, a little spindle. Fuel comes from Old French fouaille, firewood.

Meteors

From meteoros, lofted. Most start as grains no bigger than sand.

Aliens

“Other.” Wow! signal of 15 August 1977 lasted 72 seconds and never repeated.

Anti-Gravity

A force that would exactly oppose the force of gravity.

Martians

Fiction’s people of Mars live there and a day runs 24 hours and 39 minutes.

Big Bang

Big Bang is the main theory that explains origins of the universe.

Wormholes

A wormhole is a shortcut tunnel through spacetime and physicists use the term of Einstein-Rosen bridge.

Astro Force

Astro is prefix for star, and force comes from Latin fortis, strong.

Planetoids

Planetes, wanderer, and planetoid is an old term for asteroid.