moonlet

noun

moon·​let ˈmün-lət How to pronounce moonlet (audio)
: a small natural or artificial satellite

Examples of moonlet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Even Clyde Tombaugh, the dogged observer who discovered Pluto, got into the game, spending four years in the 1950s searching fruitlessly for an undiscovered moonlet. Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2020 Many had already deemed the mission successful after NASA shared footage of the DART spacecraft slamming into Dimorphos, a moonlet asteroid orbiting another larger asteroid. Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 12 Oct. 2022 The Double Asteroid Redirection Test deliberately crashed into Dimorphos, an asteroid moonlet orbiting the larger space rock Didymos, to see whether a spacecraft can change the motion of a celestial body in space. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 4 Oct. 2022 At various points before, during, or after the impact, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope observed DART’s target: the tiny moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos. Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022 See all Example Sentences for moonlet 

Word History

First Known Use

1832, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of moonlet was in 1832

Dictionary Entries Near moonlet

Cite this Entry

“Moonlet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moonlet. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!