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The Roman numbering system for satellites arose with the very first discovery of natural satellites other than Earth's Moon: Galileo referred to the Galilean moons as I through IV (counting from Jupiter outward), refusing to adopt the names proposed by his rival Simon Marius. Similar numbering schemes naturally arose with the discovery of ...
The English proper name for Earth's natural satellite is typically written as Moon, with a capital M. [19] [20] The noun moon is derived from Old English mōna, which stems from Proto-Germanic *mēnōn, [21] which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *mēnsis 'month' [22] (from earlier *mēnōt, genitive *mēneses) which may be related to the verb 'measure' (of time).
Natural satellites of other planets are generally named after mythological figures related to their parent body's namesake, such as Phobos and Deimos, the twin sons of Ares (Mars), or the Galilean moons of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, four consorts of Zeus (Jupiter).
Planetary Names: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers "Upper size limit for moons explained" Kelly Young. Nature (vol 441, p. 834) 14 June 2006; Images of planets and major moons (not to scale) The Planetary Society – Moon Montage(s) Album of moon images by Kevin M. Gill; The Atlas of Moons by the National Geographic Society
Jupiter has 95 moons with known orbits; 72 of them have received permanent designations, and 57 have been named. Its eight regular moons are grouped into the planet-sized Galilean moons and the far smaller Amalthea group. They were named after lovers of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Jupiter.
Since the invention of the telescope, astronomers have given names to the surface features they have discerned, especially on the Moon and Mars. To found an authority on planetary nomenclature, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was organized in 1919 to designate and standardize names for features on Solar System bodies.
Each full moon has its own name: May's flower moon will rise soon. Learn about the naming tradition, full moon dates and more. ... plenty goes on in the sky every month. Full moons occur roughly ...
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 23 February 2025. Objects intentionally placed into orbit This article is about human-made satellites. For moons, see Natural satellite. For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). Two CubeSats orbiting around Earth after being deployed from the ISS Kibō module's Small Satellite Orbital Deployer A ...