gcsescience.com                                                                       18                                                                       gcsescience.com

The Earth and Beyond

The Moon and Satellites.

Anything which orbits around something else is called a satellite.
The Earth is a satellite of the Sun.
The Moon is a satellite of the Earth.

Satellites are classified as natural or artificial.
Natural satellites are ones which exist without people doing anything.
Artificial satellites have been built by people and launched into orbit.

A natural satellite of a planet is called a moon.
The Earth's natural satellite is called The Moon.
Some other planets also have moons (see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto).

back       Headings       The Earth and Beyond       Search       Questions       next

gcsescience.com              Contents             Index              Quizzes             gcsescience.com

Copyright © 2008 Dr. Colin France. All Rights Reserved.