MARS — While many other places have communities that have names of planets in our solar system, Butler County’s celestial borough seems to be the only one that celebrates its otherworldly moniker.

It wears its name proudly.

A spaceship is in the town square in downtown Mars. The Mars New Year’s celebration held in June brought scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the borough.

The borough’s logo depicts swirling planets in orbit and a tiny spaceship, and several years ago a cosmonaut and an astronaut visited the Mars School District.

Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung said there are several reasons why residents have embraced the planetary moniker.

“From my experience, the biggest thing is that in the late 1990s, approaching 2000, a group of folks proposed putting a flying saucer in downtown,” Hartung said. “When that got in place, all of the sudden, with the invention of GPS, people started getting off I-79 to find the flying saucer.”

Hartung said the other event that — in his opinion — has piqued the interest of people in the Mars connection was NASA’s planned expedition to Mars.

“The NASA expedition to Mars also gave people an inspiration,” he said. “I think the interest from people outside the community actually really inspired people here to get into it.”

The silver flying saucer in downtown is a big tourist attraction, so much so that it’s become the mascot and logo of the borough, Hartung said.

“I’ve been stopped by so many people in the downtown,” Hartung said, “looking to see the flying saucer.”

But it seems other communities with planet names do little to promote themselves.

Jupiter, Fla., makes no mention of the town’s spacey name on its website. Lori Bonino, the assistant to the town manager there, confirmed that officials have never leaned on the planet to increase tourism or commerce.

Bonino said many consider the town’s name a variation of the Indian word “Jobe,” which sounded to English settlers in 1763 like “Jove” or Jupiter, the mythical god of love.

Texas contains the most towns — or former towns — with planetary names.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Community, Saturn and Pluto either exist or formerly existed in the Lone Star State.

Probably the most viable town there is Earth, a 1.2 square-mile community with a population of 1,065 in Lamb County. According to the Texas State Historical Association online, Earth was called Fairlawn when it was established in 1924.

But because that name was already taken in the state, the town’s founder asked residents to submit suggestions for a name, and it was eventually agreed that Earth was the best name for the hamlet. The Springlake-Earth School District and the Earth Locker beef jerky store continue to thrive in Earth.

Also in Texas, Venus and Pluto are just 10 miles apart in Ellis County.

While Venus is a tiny community off a major highway, Pluto is a forgotten community of the past, according to Shannon Simpson of the Ellis County Museum.

Simpson said historical records show that while a store, cotton gin, grist mill, three doctors and two churches existed in Pluto in the late 1800s, the population was recorded at 15 in 2000.

“There’s nothing there,” Simpson said. “It’s not an active community.”

According to the Handbook of Texas online, Mars Community was settled in the late 1800s by brothers Henry and John Marrs in Van Zandt County. The last recorded population of Mars Community was 50 people in 1945.

The community was disbanded after 150 years, and the area is now called Pleasant Ridge, according to the Handbook of Texas online.

Saturn, Texas, in Gonzales County was originally named Possum Trot, and contained a store, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, grocer and telephone connection in 1914, according to the Texas State Historical Association online.

While a population of 15 residents was recorded as late as 2000, the county highway map only showed a cemetery in Saturn.

A Mars once existed in San Bernardino County, Calif., but is no longer on the list of cities in the county, according to county officials. Thought to be an early gold rush town, most county residents are unaware that Mars ever existed.

An interesting planet-named city is Mercury, Nev., which is 65 miles west of Las Vegas in Nye County in an area known as Jackass Flats.

Not accessible to the public, Mercury got its start in 1950 as Base Camp Mercury, which preceded the current Nevada Test Site governed by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Mercury was created and built by the Atomic Energy Commission to accommodate the workers at the Nevada Test Site. While many assume it was named for the planet, Mercury represents the plentiful mercury mines in the vicinity that were mined in the mid-19th century.

As for Butler County’s Mars, it is not known for certain what the one-square-mile borough was named for.

Some say an early settler’s wife in Overbrook, which was the town’s name before it became Mars, enjoyed astronomy. Others said it is a shortened version of another early settler, Sam Marshall.