Earth Demoted!

[Plutocrat]

Bad news, Earthlings: you may have thought Earth was a planet, but in fact it's merely a satellite--according to page 12 of the April 3, 2009, issue of Current Science, a children's magazine published by Weekly Reader:


Earth isn't the only volcanic satellite in our solar system. The largest known volcano, Olympus Mons, is on Mars. And Jupiter's moon Io [EYE-oh] seethes with many eruptions. Now, U.S. astronomers have found signs of volcanism--but volcanism of an alien kind--on Saturn's moon Titan.

You know, they could have avoided this mistake if they had simply used the word world or object in place of satellite.

[Gillianren]

As we recently discussed, the Earth is a satellite.

[Plutocrat]

I disagree. In this context, satellite = moon, and the Earth is not a moon. Some in the intelligentsia might refer to the Earth poetically as a satellite of the Sun; but it's horribly misleading to use such terminology with beginners, especially children. It's all the more unfortunate because world or object would have served the same purpose of grouping Earth and Mars, on the one hand, together with Io and Titan, on the other--without any misleading connotations.

[PetersCreek]

Some in the intelligentsia might refer to the Earth poetically as a satellite of the Sun; but it's horribly misleading to use such terminology with beginners, especially children.

There's nothing particularly poetic about the reference. Planets, moons, asteriods, artificial satellites, and Pluto are all kinds of satellites according to the definition of the word.

I learned the term as a child. I also learned that dogs, cats, cows, and polliwogs are all kinds of animals. What's so horribly misleading about it?

[Gillianren]

Personally, I find "world" misleading to refer to moons.

[PetersCreek]

How about "demiworld"?