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[New Concept]: Exosatellite #505

@malimbach

Description

@malimbach

Describe the Concept

Suggested definition: "A companion to a ultracool dwarf, brown dwarf or planetary mass object."

Concept Location

I would suggest that both exomoons (Natural Satellites) and exoplanets should be listed as narrower concepts.

Exoplanet astronomy should be listed as a broader concept.

Brown dwarfs should be listed as a related concept.

Supporting Information

Currently, there is no general term in the UAT to refer to the companions of objects that orbit hosts in the substellar regime, and this term is the most commonly used in the literature. "Exoplanets" is currently defined in the UAT as "A planet which belongs to a star other than Sun, and therefore does not belong to our solar system; same as exoplanet." whereas "Natural Satellites (extrasolar)"--which should be exomoons--is defined in the UAT as "A natural satellite orbiting an extrasolar planet." Thus, there is not term in the UAT defined to refer to a companion to a brown dwarf. I'm suggesting the broader definition (e.g. where the host can be planetary-mass, brown dwarf or an ultracool dwarf) as we often do not have good enough mass constraints on substellar worlds to determine if an object is in the planetary (<13Mjup) or brown dwarf(>13Mjup) range, and thus the more general definition is optimal.

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