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Makemake has one moon, discovered in April 2016. A number of other objects in the Kuiper belt and scattered disk may turn out to be dwarf planets. Orcus, Quaoar, Gonggong, and Sedna are generally agreed to be dwarf planets among astronomers, and all but Sedna are known to have moons. [9]
Where only one satellite is known, or it is a binary with a common centre of gravity, it may be referred to using the hyphenated names of the primary and major satellite (e.g. the "Earth-Moon system"). Many Solar System objects are known to possess satellite systems, though their origin is still unclear.
The term satellite thus became the normal one for referring to an object orbiting a planet, as it avoided the ambiguity of "moon". In 1957, however, the launching of the artificial object Sputnik created a need for new terminology. [5] The terms man-made satellite and artificial moon were very quickly abandoned in favor of the simpler satellite ...
In the Solar System, all planets, comets, and asteroids are in such orbits, as are many artificial satellites and pieces of space debris. Moons by contrast are not in a heliocentric orbit but rather orbit their parent object. Geocentric orbit: An orbit around the planet Earth, such as that of the Moon or of artificial satellites.
The known icy moons in this range are all ellipsoidal (except Proteus), but trans-Neptunian objects up to 450–500 km radius may be quite porous. [10] For simplicity and comparative purposes, the values are manually calculated assuming that the bodies are all spheres. The size of solid bodies does not include an object's atmosphere.
Pages in category "Satellites orbiting the Moon" The following 19 pages are in this category, out of 19 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. A.
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The Moon can be described as all of the following: Natural satellite – celestial body that orbits another celestial body of greater mass (e.g. a planet, star, or dwarf planet), called its primary. [1] [2] For example, the Moon is a natural satellite of Earth, and Earth is a natural satellite of the Sun.