• Deme@sopuli.xyz
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    11 months ago

    A moonlet moonette is a natural satellite of a moon without being a moon itself. A planet is also a natural satellite of a star. The use of the word “moon” as a common term for natural satellites of planets is well established in professional terminology.

    • Zekas@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      What, no.

      A moon is a natural satellite. Our moon, Europa, Titan etc. A moonlet is a very small natural satellite. Earhart in Saturn’s orbit for example. A moon of a moon is a moonmoon or subsatellite.

      • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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        11 months ago

        Fair, I messed up the names there. Moonette is the synonym of that that I was thinking of.

        But a satellite (natural or artificial) is any object that orbits around a celestial body. The Earth is a satellite just as the Moon is one. Subsatellite is just the satellite of a satellite, but that depends on context. Moons fit that definition, but aren’t usually considered subsatellites because we don’t usually think of planets as the satellites of the Sun that they are.