this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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There isn't a lower limit, it's just the word for a natural satellite. We used to call all of those just "satellites", but the language shifted when we started making our own satellites
There are some terms for the kind of moon you describe, though! Planetary-mass moon, major moon, or satellite planet are apparently all options. I like major moon best, personally
Oddly enough we also don't actually know how Phobos and Deimos came to orbit Mars. They may well not be captured asteroids (though that doesn't change their non-roundness, of course)
If you ask me, we should keep calling all natural satellites "moons", if for no other reason, so that we can use the delightful term "moonmoon" if we ever find such a thing