# Moonlet

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{{Short description|Small natural satellite orbiting a planet}}
{{Redirect|Minor moon|moons of minor planets|minor-planet moon}}
[[File:PIA11672 Giant Propeller in A Ring.jpg|thumb|The 400-meter moonlet [Earhart](/source/Earhart_(moon)) in Saturn's [A Ring](/source/A_Ring), just outside the [Encke Gap](/source/Encke_Gap)]]
[[File:Earthart ropeller.jpg|thumb|Another image of [Earhart](/source/Earhart_(moon))]]
[[File:Bleriot (moon).jpg|thumb|Another moonlet named [Bleriot](/source/Bleriot_(moon))]]
[[File:Santos-Dumont propeller.jpg|thumb|A moonlet named [Santos-Dumont](/source/Santos-Dumont_(moon))]]
thumb|A moonlet in Saturn's A ring

A '''moonlet''', '''minor moon''', '''minor natural satellite''', or '''minor satellite''' is a particularly small [natural satellite](/source/natural_satellite) orbiting a [planet](/source/planet), [dwarf planet](/source/dwarf_planet), or [minor planet](/source/minor_planet).

Up until 1995, moonlets were only hypothetical components of Saturn's F-ring structure, but in that year, the Earth passed through Saturn's ring plane. The [Hubble Space Telescope](/source/Hubble_Space_Telescope) and the [European Southern Observatory](/source/European_Southern_Observatory) both captured objects orbiting close or near the F-ring.  In 2004, [Cassini](/source/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens) caught an object 4–5 kilometers in diameter on the outer ring of the F-ring and then 5 hours later on the inner F-ring, showing that the object had orbited.<ref name="O.C. Winter 2007">{{cite journal
 | first1= Othon C. |last1=Winter
 | title= Moonlets wandering on a leash-ring
 | journal= [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters](/source/Monthly_Notices_of_the_Royal_Astronomical_Society)
 | year= 2007
 | volume= 380
 | issue= 1
 | pages= L54–L57
 | display-authors= 1
 | last2= Mourão
 | first2= Daniela C.
 | last3= Giuliatti Winte
 | first3= Silvia M.
 | last4= Spahn
 | first4= Frank
 | last5= Da Cruz
 | first5= Christiano | doi = 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2007.00347.x
 |bibcode=2007MNRAS.380L..54W
 | doi-access= free
 | hdl= 11449/33832
 | hdl-access= free
 }}</ref>

Several different types of small moons have been called moonlets:
* A belt of objects embedded in a planetary ring, especially around [Saturn](/source/Saturn), such as those in the [A Ring](/source/Rings_of_Saturn), [S/2009 S 1](/source/S%2F2009_S_1) in the [B Ring](/source/B_Ring) (["propeller" moonlets](/source/Moons_of_Saturn)),<ref name="Tiscareno2006">{{cite journal
 | first1= Matthew S. |last1=Tiscareno
 | title= 100-metre-diameter moonlets in Saturn's A ring from observations of 'propeller' structures
 | journal= [Nature](/source/Nature_(journal))
 | year= 2006
 | volume= 440
 | issue= 7084
 | pages= 648–650
 | pmid= 16572165
 | doi= 10.1038/nature04581
 | bibcode= 2006Natur.440..648T
 | display-authors= 1
 | last2= Burns
 | first2= Joseph A.
 | last3= Hedman
 | first3= Matthew M.
 | last4= Porco
 | first4= Carolyn C.
 | last5= Weiss
 | first5= John W.
 | last6= Dones
 | first6= Luke
 | last7= Richardson
 | first7= Derek C.
 | last8= Murray
 | first8= Carl D. | s2cid= 9688977
 }}</ref><ref name="Sremcevic2007">{{cite journal
 | first1=Miodrag |last1=Sremčević
 | title= A belt of moonlets in Saturn's A ring
 | journal= [Nature](/source/Nature_(journal))
 | year= 2007
 | volume= 449
 | issue= 7165
 | pages= 1019–1021
 | pmid= 17960236
 | doi= 10.1038/nature06224
 | bibcode= 2007Natur.449.1019S
 | display-authors= 1
 | last2= Schmidt
 | first2= Jürgen
 | last3= Salo
 | first3= Heikki
 | last4= Seiß
 | first4= Martin
 | last5= Spahn
 | first5= Frank
 | last6= Albers
 | first6= Nicole| s2cid= 4330204
 }}</ref> and those in the [F Ring](/source/Rings_of_Saturn)<ref>{{cite journal
 |first1           = Carl D. |last1=Murray
 |title           = The determination of the structure of Saturn's F ring by nearby moonlets
 |publisher       = The Science and Technology Facilities Council
 |date            = June 5, 2008
 |journal         = Nature
 |url             = https://hal-cea.archives-ouvertes.fr/cea-00930885/file/mur.pdf
 |pmid            = 18528389
 |doi             = 10.1038/nature06999
 |volume          = 453
 |issue           = 7196
 |pages           = 739–44
 |display-authors = 1
 |last2           = Beurle
 |first2          = Kevin
 |last3           = Cooper
 |first3          = Nicholas J.
 |last4           = Evans
 |first4          = Michael W.
 |last5           = Williams
 |first5          = Gareth A.
 |last6           = Charnoz
 |first6          = Sébastien
 |bibcode         = 2008Natur.453..739M
 |s2cid = 205213483
 |url-status         = 
}}</ref>
* Occasionally [asteroid moon](/source/asteroid_moon)s, such as those of [87 Sylvia](/source/87_Sylvia)<ref name="Marchis05">{{cite journal |first1=Franck |last1=Marchis |title=Discovery of the triple asteroidal system 87 Sylvia |journal=Nature |volume=436 |pages=822–24 |year=2005 |bibcode=2005Natur.436..822M |doi=10.1038/nature04018 |pmid=16094362 |issue=7052 |display-authors=1 |last2=Descamps |first2=Pascal |last3=Hestroffer |first3=Daniel |last4=Berthier |first4=Jérome |s2cid=4412813 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nb376hk }}</ref>
* [Flashes](/source/Amalthea_moonlets) seen near [Jupiter](/source/Jupiter)'s moon [Amalthea](/source/Amalthea_(moon)) that is likely debris ejected from its surface<ref>{{cite journal
 |author  =Fieseler P. D.
 |author2  =Adams O. W.
 |author3  =Vandermey N.
 |author4  =Theilig E. E.
 |author5  =Schimmels K. A.
 |author6  =Lewis G. D.
 |author7  =Ardalan S. M.
 |author8  =Alexander C. J.
 |title   =The Galileo star scanner observations at Amalthea
 |date    =2004
 |journal =Icarus
 |volume  =169
 |issue   =2
 |pages   =390–401
 |doi     =10.1016/j.icarus.2004.01.012
 |bibcode =2004Icar..169..390F
}}</ref>
* [Subsatellite](/source/Subsatellite)s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.science20.com/robert_inventor/can_moons_have_moonlets_or_rings_moonlets_of_plutos_moons-154917 |title=Can Moons Have Moonlets? Or Rings? Moonlets Of Pluto's Moons? |publisher=Science 2.0 |first=Robert |last=Walker |date=17 April 2015 |access-date=9 April 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
{{wiktionary}}
* [Minor-planet moon](/source/Minor-planet_moon)
* [Natural satellite](/source/Natural_satellite)
* [Ring system](/source/Ring_system)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[https://books.google.com/books?q=moonlet&btnG=Search+Books Google Book Search for "moonlet"]

{{Moons of Saturn|state=uncollapsed}}

== Links ==
[https://content.cld.iop.org/journals/1538-3881/135/3/1083/revision1/aj262114_mrt2.txt List of moonlets]

Category:Asteroid satellites
Category:Moons of Saturn
Category:Moons

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Moonlet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.