What is a natural satellite?
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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.
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