1

We say that Luna is Earth's moon. That's like looking at it from the Earth's perspective, or from a wider perspective. What is Earth to Luna from Luna's perspective?

In an application I've been coding, I create an object for each planet and in each object, there are two properties moon and master. For example,

earth : {
    radius : 60,
    moons : [ luna ],
    master : null,
},
luna : {
    radius : 15,
    moons : [],
    master : earth,
},

I chose master but I'm curious if there's a better or more technical term for that.

I wasn't sure if I should ask this in astronomy.stackexchange.com or in here. So, advise if I was wrong.

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akinuri
  • 203

2 Answers2

5

It seems that the astronomical term is "primary":

A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits another body (a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body), which is called its primary, and that is not artificial.

(from Wikipedia)

...but this suggests that you're asking a question about astronomy, rather than about English. Non-astronomer English speakers might not think "primary" is any better than "master", and might even prefer "planet". However, in code it is usually better to use the correct terminology of the domain you're modeling, so in this case I think the astronomical term is most appropriate.

Avish
  • 166
2

A thing that an orbiting body orbits is called its primary.

Opposite of "satellite"

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beartits
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