Why are the names of the week ordered the way they are?

According to the book 'Popular Astronomy' by Simon Newcomb, published in 1878, page 46, astrologers of yore drew a circle and inesribed a 7-pointed star. They ordered the seven known celestial bodies in order of increasing distance from the Earth ' Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn in a counterclockwise pattern on the circumference at each point of the star. Then in a natural pattern of strokes, drew the segments of the star starting with the Moon.

Monday.....  First point.
Tuesday....  Mars
Wednesday..  Mercury
Thursday..   Jupiter
Friday....   Venus
Saturday..   Saturn
Sunday....   Sun
In Spanish, we even hear the names of the planets more clearly: Lunes, martes, miercoles, queves, viernes, sabado domingo...if I recall my spellings correctly!
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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