minimoon

• mini-moon

Blend of mini- +‎ honeymoon

minimoon (plural minimoons)

1. A brief honeymoon or holiday taken after a wedding.
   • 2008 January 16, Carolyn Ali, “Minimoons may be short, but they sure are sweet”, in The Georgia Straight:

     But weddings are stressful, and it makes sense to take a day or two after saying “I do” to relax and make mad, passionate love (read: sleep in and watch TV). So consider a minimoon: a quick two-night getaway close to home.

   • 2009 July 1, Jo Tweedy, “After the nanobreak comes the 'minimoon' as newlyweds scrimp on honeymoon holiday”, in Daily Mail:

     Rachel Moschke, Editor of Wedding Ideas magazine, said: ‘Most of us worry about saving up for our wedding day, but it seems we’re reluctant to give up the quality time together that a honeymoon offers. A minimoon is the perfect way to start married life, without busting the budget.’

   • 2012 November 22, James Robertson, “Rochelle and Marvin Humes are having a baby: 'We're so excited to start a family'”, in The Mirror, UK:

     The couple are yet to go on their honeymoon because of their strict working schedules but did find time for a ‘minimoon’ after tying the knot.

mini- +‎ moon

minimoon (plural minimoons)

1. (astronomy) A small asteroid captured by the Earth's gravity and temporarily acting as a second moon of Earth.
   • 2020 March 4, Theresa Machemer, “Earth's New Mini-Moon Is Leaving Soon”, in Smithsonian Magazine‎, archived from the original on 2022-08-20:

     This photo of Earth's newest minimoon was taken by the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Hawaii's Maunakea.

   • 2020 September 22, Stacy Liberatore, “Earth is set to capture a minimoon in October that may stay until May 2021 – but some experts say the object could be man-made space junk”, in The Daily Mail‎, archived from the original on 2021-07-26:

     Earth has only had two minimoons on record – one in February 2020 and the other in 2006.

   • 2021 March 11, Alexandra Witze, “Record number of asteroids seen whizzing past Earth in 2020”, in Nature‎, archived from the original on 2022-09-09:

     These included a rare 'minimoon' named 2020 CD3, a tiny asteroid less than 3 metres in diameter that had been temporarily captured by Earth's gravity. The minimoon broke away from Earth's pull last April.

2. (astronomy, uncommon) Synonym of micromoon (“a full moon which appears unusually small due to coinciding with the Moon's apogee”)
   • 2014 January 15, Geoff Gaherty, “Smallest full moon of 2014 rises tonight”, in NBC News‎, archived from the original on 2022-12-21:

     The trouble is, the difference in size between Supermoon and Minimoon, though apparent when placed side-by-side, is only 14 percent, too small to be seen with the naked eye.

   • 2018 January 29, Tim O'Brien, “'Super blue blood moon' to grace the sky – here's what we could learn from it”, in The Conversation‎, archived from the original on 2022-08-13:

     At its closest point, perigee, the moon will obviously appear largest. Such a "maximoon" has an apparent diameter about 13% larger than a "minimoon" at its most distant point, apogee.

   • 2022 August 9, Rosie Bensley, “A supermoon will rise on Thursday: Here's a photographer's tips to get the best snap”, in The Canberra Times‎:

     For those interested in a longer-term project, Professor Horner said taking a photo of the supermoon and comparing it to the 'minimoon' in December can be an interesting experiment to compare the size.

• quasi-satellite