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[Centaur]

Here is a link to news of two more satellites of Pluto.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9878701/

Gripe: Would the media please stop referring to such objects as moons. It leads to folks asking why The Moon has no name of its own. It does have a name. In English it is Moon. It has other names in other languages. Until the modern era the word Moon was used only to describe one object. Galileo discovered four bodies circling Jupiter and dubbed them satellites. Later, by analogy, some people called them moons. After artificial satellites were launched around the Earth, folks began thinking of the word satellite as only referring to the man-made type. Hence the question now asked as to why the Moon has no name. The Moon is the Moon! If we astronomers lead the way, the analogous objects will only be referred to as planetary satellites.

[Maddad]

While you are correct Centaur, asking the media to stop calling them moons is really tilting at windmills.

[Centaur]

maddad said:

While you are correct Centaur, asking the media to stop calling them moons is really tilting at windmills.

And of course, you are also correct. As a long time member of the news media, I am aware of the law of inertia as it applies to its members.

[Rocketman]

I thought it's proper name was Luna...?

[Centaur]

rocketman2 said:

I thought it's proper name was Luna...?

That’s true only if one is speaking or writing in a Romance (Latin based) language such as Spanish. English dictionaries will tell you that Luna is the name of one of several ancient Roman Goddesses of the Moon, not the Moon itself. If you prefer to use English when referring to Earth’s natural satellite, see the full explanation given within the first post in this thread. However, in English the proper adjective when referring to the Moon is indeed lunar.

The modern English word Moon is derived from the Middle English Moone, the Old English Mono and the German Mond. English is a Germanic language. The aforementioned terms were used long before natural satellites were discovered circling other planets

[Rocketman]

"tilting at windmills"

That's quite a puzzling expression Madman. I'm curious though, what does it mean? ;D

[Centaur]

rocketman2 said:

"tilting at windmills"

That's a new one on me! ;D

Sancho Panza was equally mystified.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Centaur,

That is quite a truism that you postulate, and with some thought...I agree.

I will no longer refer to objects orbiting other bodies as "Moons", but will refer to them now on as Satellites.

See...even I can learn a new thing or two...

[Centaur]

rocketman2 said:

"tilting at windmills"

That's quite a puzzling expression Madman. I'm curious though, what does it mean? ;D

My earlier clue should have been sufficient.

[Centaur]

admin said:

Centaur,

That is quite a truism that you postulate, and with some thought...I agree.

I will no longer refer to objects orbiting other bodies as "Moons", but will refer to them now on as Satellites.

See...even I can learn a new thing or two...

Fabulous, Joe! One more bold knight to support the cause. Now the trick will be to convert those living outside of La Mancha.

[Rocketman]

I agree "natural satellite" sounds, as well as appears, more professional!

[Maddad]

rocketman2 said:

"tilting at windmills"
That's quite a puzzling expression Madman. I'm curious though, what does it mean? ;D

The reference is to Don Quixote, a character out of a funny story from (criminy; gotta look it up) 1605. He thought that windmills were monsters, and since was a knight dedicated to killing monsters, he would charge them. Of course they just went around and around, and he could never kill the beasts. Here's one (of many) reference for it:
www.ctspanish.com/literature/windmills.htm

[Centaur]

maddad said:

The reference is to Don Quixote, a character out of a funny story from (criminy; gotta look it up) 1605.

Apparently you enjoyed the adventures of the man of La Mancha. So did I (a long time ago in high school.) Your allusion to the tilt was certainly a good one; I got a kick out of it. If any book is a classic, it is Don Quixote. The 900-page "story" by the Spanish writer Cervantes is considered the first modern novel. Since the ersatz knight tilted at windmills early in his escapades, the not otherwise memorable scene is often the only one recalled by those who read no further. Here's a link to a review of a recent translation:

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/reviews/books/DON_QUIXOTE.DTL

Perhaps Quixote and the Windmills would make a good pair of constellations. In what region of the sky should we put them?

[Maddad]

Yep, I'm guilty. Only remember that one part of the story. It was funny enough to last me decades though. You've fired my interest, though. Someone I might very well be calling GF soon has a PhD in British Literature; she carried a minor in British publishing. We started talking about her writing a science fiction book when she said she wanted to feature a benovolent alien coming to Earth. I already had some thoughts on that, so I dropped her the URL for the list of issues I'd come up with that someone would have to handle or avoid. 80 of the things.