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"All the newfound moons are small, between about 1 and 3 kilometres across. Seven of them travel in remote orbits more than 20 million kilometres away from Jupi

"All the newfound moons are small, between about 1 and 3 kilometres across. Seven of them travel in remote orbits more than 20 million kilometres away from Jupiter" As a layman with no astronomical credibilty I'd call those satellites, not moons.

nikbackm 8y ago
https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/what-is-the-smallest-size-a-satellite-can-become-a-moon/ https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/what-is-the-smalle...
- baxtr 8y ago
  From the above article: So as it stands, a moon is simply any natural body in orbit around a planet or other non-stellar object (so asteroids can have moons, and it’s even possible for a moon to have its own moon, although none have been discovered so far).
maxerickson 8y ago
Behemoth ISS is 0.0728 kM across. But moon anyway mostly just means natural satellite.
baseethrowaway 8y ago
Natural satellite == moon. "Natural satellite" is a subset of "satellite", thus what you'd call them is correct by definition. Let's let the astronomers with credibility play and name the objects.
- dalbasal 8y ago
  Do astronomers get as fiery about taxanomy as biologists do? I kind of had the impression they're easy going about naming, just more wary of upsetting young enthusiests. I heard there were many sternly worded letters from 9 year olds, after the demotion of Pluto. Slightly related, are all the particles in (eg) Saturn's rings wver referred to as moons?
  - kersny 8y ago
    Seems like they do: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.04115.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.04115.pdf
    - dalbasal 8y ago
      Oh wow. This is basically a paper about astrologists. Was it published under astrology or anthropology?
- jovial_cavalier 8y ago
  So does Saturn have billions of moons?
  - Nimelrian 8y ago
    Saturn's rings are a bit more special. They are actually only 10-100m thick. There's still a difference (however small it may be) between those and kilometer sized rocks.
  - jobigoud 8y ago
    No need ti invoke Saturn, Jupiter has its own rings.
- magduf 8y ago
  I agree, however with so many "moons" now known and more being discovered constantly, and so many of those being really nothing more than asteroids and possibly fragments and debris from past collisions, and in light of the change of the definition of "planet", I would not at all be surprised if the astronomers decided to change the definition of "moon" to also include hydrostatic equilibrium, and then captured asteroids like Mars' to be renamed "minor moons" or similar.
mozumder 8y ago
Instead of moons, maybe they're space stations?

nikbackm 8y ago

https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/what-is-the-smallest-size-a-satellite-can-become-a-moon/ https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/what-is-the-smalle...

baxtr 8y ago
From the above article: So as it stands, a moon is simply any natural body in orbit around a planet or other non-stellar object (so asteroids can have moons, and it’s even possible for a moon to have its own moon, although none have been discovered so far).

maxerickson 8y ago

Behemoth ISS is 0.0728 kM across. But moon anyway mostly just means natural satellite.

baseethrowaway 8y ago

Natural satellite == moon. "Natural satellite" is a subset of "satellite", thus what you'd call them is correct by definition. Let's let the astronomers with credibility play and name the objects.

dalbasal 8y ago
Do astronomers get as fiery about taxanomy as biologists do? I kind of had the impression they're easy going about naming, just more wary of upsetting young enthusiests. I heard there were many sternly worded letters from 9 year olds, after the demotion of Pluto. Slightly related, are all the particles in (eg) Saturn's rings wver referred to as moons?
- kersny 8y ago
  Seems like they do: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.04115.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.04115.pdf
  - dalbasal 8y ago
    Oh wow. This is basically a paper about astrologists. Was it published under astrology or anthropology?
jovial_cavalier 8y ago
So does Saturn have billions of moons?
- Nimelrian 8y ago
  Saturn's rings are a bit more special. They are actually only 10-100m thick. There's still a difference (however small it may be) between those and kilometer sized rocks.
- jobigoud 8y ago
  No need ti invoke Saturn, Jupiter has its own rings.
magduf 8y ago
I agree, however with so many "moons" now known and more being discovered constantly, and so many of those being really nothing more than asteroids and possibly fragments and debris from past collisions, and in light of the change of the definition of "planet", I would not at all be surprised if the astronomers decided to change the definition of "moon" to also include hydrostatic equilibrium, and then captured asteroids like Mars' to be renamed "minor moons" or similar.

mozumder 8y ago

Instead of moons, maybe they're space stations?