• Deme
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      447 months ago

      True, but it’s also the name of the Roman godess, which does make it allign better with all the other astronomical names.

    • @saltesc@lemmy.world
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      187 months ago

      To be fair, we didn’t know there were more until Galileo showed up late to the party with his telescope.

      • @jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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        177 months ago

        And technically the Moon is the only Moon. The “correct” term for what’s colloquially called “moon” is “natural satellite”.

        • Deme
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          7 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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            47 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
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              7 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.

    • @can@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      So? Nova Scotia is just New Scotland in Latin. That’s still the name.

      Edit: unless you’re French, then it’s Nouvelle-Écosse

    • @catsup
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      27 months ago

      Also in Spanish