explain your answer.
2007-01-23 07:21:18 · 22 answers · asked by Kelsey D. Yay ME! 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No. The earth is not a satellite of a planet. It does have an orbit around the sun, but those things are called planets as the sun is a star.
2007-01-23 07:24:19 · answer #1 · answered by FrazzledMom 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
The pair orbits the sun and the Earth is clearly the more massive of the two, therefore the Earth is a planet. A better question would be whether the Moon is large enough to also be a planet. Some authors talk of the Earth-Moon system as a double planet.
The IAU uses the position of the centre of mass of the system (barycentre). If it is outside the more massive planet, then they'd both be planets. In the case of Earth and Moon, the barycentre is still within Earth. Therefore, Moon is a satellite.
PS: Here is a quote from Wikipedia's page on the Moon (half-way down)
"The Earth-Moon system is sometimes considered to be a double planet rather than a planet-moon system. This is due to the exceptionally large size of the Moon relative to its host planet; the Moon is one-fourth the diameter of Earth and 1/81 its mass. However, this definition is criticized by some since the common center of mass of the system (the barycenter) is located about 1700 km (average) beneath the surface of the Earth, or about a quarter of the Earth's radius."
2007-01-23 07:42:33 · answer #2 · answered by Raymond 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the definition of a satellite is an object that orbits a planet. The earth does not orbit a planet, it orbits the sun, a star.
2016-05-24 01:32:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It already is a satellite -- of the sun.
A satellite is something which orbits around a central source of gravity. The Moon and many man-made objects orbit the Earth; the Earth orbits the Sun, our solar system is in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy . . .
The Milky Way even has "satellite galaxies" -- the Magellanic clouds!
We just have decided to give the variety of objects different names -- moons are satellites of planets, planets are satellites of stars, etc.
2007-01-23 07:28:52 · answer #4 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Anything that circles something else is a satellite of the circled object. Therefore the Earth is a satellite of the sun.
2007-01-23 07:24:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
nope
An object that revolves around a planet.
(or moon) is the term for a body in orbit around a planet. As long as our own Moon was the only moon known, there was no need for a general term for the moons of planets. But when Galileo Galilei discovered the four main moons of the planet Jupiter, Johannes Kepler wrote Galileo a letter suggesting he call them “satellites” (from the Latin satelles, which means attendant). The word means the same thing as “moon.”
lol. this is a hard one. coz every1 has a different answer
2007-01-23 07:26:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Earth is a satellite of the Sun.
2007-01-23 08:20:18 · answer #7 · answered by Jerry P 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It could be considered a satellite of the sun.
2007-01-23 07:23:32 · answer #8 · answered by scruffy 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No, Earth does not orbit the Moon. It is the other way round which is way the Moon is a satellite of Earth. Voila!
2007-01-23 07:24:46 · answer #9 · answered by Great Dane 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
I would say that all the planets in our solar system are satellites of the sun.
2007-01-23 07:23:57 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋