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Originally Posted by aurora
One weakness with the current definition of moon is that there is no guidance for a small chunk of rock or ice. When is an object a moon versus just another particle in a ring?
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Yes, size is the big source of ambiguity. The definition just says "larger than an asteroid or comet," but what does that really mean? My criteria would probably include a gravity field strong enough to make it roughly spherical (which would exclude many moons, including Mars's).
A better word (and often used by astronomers) may be
satellite, for which size is irrelevant.
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Originally Posted by Saluki
Russ: The Dictionary is certainly source to consider, when determining how a word is used in common parlance. However, as anyone with any science or technical background can verify, it is not an authoritative source for professional jargon.
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I suspect astronomers simply
don't care, which is why you rarely see any controversy over the issue. Planet, asteroid, minor planet? Not that important. Moon or just a satellite? Not that important either.
But you won't ever see moon and planet being interchanged.