Glossary term: Artificial Satellite
Description: An artificial satellite is a human-made device that is sent into space, to orbit Earth or other Solar System objects, where gravity keeps it in orbit. Artificial satellites can be built to perform various tasks including taking aerial photographs of Earth that help meteorologists predict the weather, or taking pictures of astronomical bodies and distant galaxies, which helps scientists to better understand the cosmic system. Artificial satellites are also used primarily for communications around the world and for finding one's position, e.g. the Global Positioning System (GPS). The first artificial satellite was launched into space in 1957 by the Soviet Union, and it was called Sputnik 1.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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Credit: Torsten Hansen/IAU OAE
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