What is a natural satellite?
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It’s any natural object that orbits a planet. The moon is a satellite of the earth, Jupiter’s moons are satellites of Jupiter, etc. “Satellite” is a catch-all term for both moons and much smaller objects, like captured asteroids or the bits of rock and ice comprising the rings of Saturn, for example.
Some authors use “satellite” as a term for any thing that orbits another thing (e.g. the earth is a satellite of the sun) but apparently this is not accepted by all.
A moon. Basically, a natural satellite is a natural object that orbits a planet. On Earth, we have one main one, The Moon. But there are also a bunch of tiny natural satellites that are more like asteroids. Meanwhile, Jupiter and Saturn have a whole bunch of natural satellites.
But, you could also consider the planets as natural satellites of the Sun, so it’s a slightly more general term than just “a moon.”
An object (not man made) that orbits around a planet. The most common known one is our moon. (Or any moon, really.)
A satellite is a much smaller object orbiting a much larger object. The moon is a natural satellite of Earth. This is in contrast to a manmade satellite, like a GPS satellite.
A satellite is a smaller object orbiting a larger object.
If the smaller object is a device made by humans, launched from a rocket, it’s an “artificial satellite”. Of course “artificial” means human-made.
A natural satellite is a satellite that occurs in nature. That is, it’s a smaller object that started orbiting a larger object, but it wasn’t made / sent into position on purpose by a civilization (human or otherwise).
What are they? Natural satellites are things like moons and smaller space rocks that orbit a planet.
Probably worth noting that the general concept of what is or is not a satellite is not entirely accurate. Things that appear to orbit around something, i.e. the moon around the earth, are actually moving around the centre of mass of both of the objects (as well as further being influenced by the many other objects seemingly unrelated to them). In an ideal experiment, the shared centre of mass of two orbiting objects is known as the barycentre and is never actually in the centre of mass of either object, but rather somewhere between both their centres of mass. In an example like the earth orbiting the sun, this centre of mass is however very close to the centre of the sun as the difference in mass is so great. In this example the earth might be generally considered to be a natural satellite, but refer to the above concept to gain a better understanding.
The moon is a natural satellite. Any object that orbits a larger object such as a planet or a star, is a satellite of that object.
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