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A circle with a dot at its centre — the Sun, and gold in alchemy.
Also known as: Solar symbol, Circle with a dot, Sol symbol, Gold symbol, Dot in a circle
A dot inside a circle denotes the Sun, and is still standard in astronomy for solar quantities: a solar mass is written with it. Alchemists used the same mark for gold, under the correspondence between the Sun and the most precious metal.
Denotes the Sun, and is used as a subscript for solar units — a solar mass and a solar radius are both written with it.
Contexts: History
Denoted gold in alchemical writing.
A record of what alchemists wrote, not a claim that the association holds. The planet–metal correspondences were a system of belief, and the chemistry they rest on is not sound.
Medieval and early modern alchemy · Contexts: History
Is held in astrological tradition to signify the self, vitality and will.
Recorded as what astrological tradition assigns, not as a finding. Symbolwise does not assert that any planet influences anything, and astrology has no empirical standing.
Contexts: History
Remains in active scientific use in a way most symbols in this batch are not: solar mass and solar luminosity are standard units in astrophysics and are always written with it.
Contexts: History
Is a circle with a central dot in its standard form, and the dot is load-bearing: a plain circle in the same context is more likely to be a degree sign, a full moon, or in alchemical writing a different substance entirely. Ancient Egyptian and some medieval usage drew the sun as a plain disc, which is why manuscript examples vary.
Contexts: History
Denoted gold in alchemical writing, and the association survives in the language of metallurgy and heraldry long after the astrology was abandoned.
Medieval and early modern alchemy · Contexts: History
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
Plain disc
The circle without the central dot, found in ancient and some medieval usage. Ambiguous in modern contexts, where an undotted circle reads as something else.
Unicode SUN
U+2609, the dotted circle as an encoded character.
A plain circle with a single filled dot at its exact centre.
The astronomical sun stands for the star itself; the packaging mark is a storage instruction that borrows the drawing.
Sun and Moon are paired throughout astronomical, alchemical and astrological usage, and stand for gold and silver respectively.