is the moon a star or a planet?

It's a 'Natural Satellite'. See this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_satellite

Polly

Stars are defined as those objects massive enough to ignite thermonuclear reactions in their cores. This is roughly a tenth of the mass of the Sun. The Moon is not this massive and is hence not a star.

The new IAU definition for a planet states that the planet must orbit the Sun. The Moon orbits the Earth, not the Sun, so it is not a planet by this definition. Note that this definition only applies to the Solar System and not for extrasolar planets.

The Moon is, simply put, a moon. You might also call it a "minor body" if you wish. You should know, however, that many professional astronomers see this as a debate over semantics and hence don't really care.

The word "planet" is from ancient Greek "aster planetes" meaning wandering star. For the Greeks, there were seven wanderers:

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. (of course, they used their Greek names: Helios, Selene, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, Chronos).

So the Moon was a planet.

Because the expression aster planetes included "aster" (star), it was also a star (an object that shines in the sky).

When Astronomy became a bit more modern and the Sun was recognized as the centre of the solar system, the terminology was refined:

star: emits light by its own means (stars emit light through nuclear fusion). The Sun lost its "planet" status and became a star, albeit a special one.

planet: objects that are in orbit around the sun and which reflect the light from the sun. The Earth became a planet at that point. The Moon lost its planet status then and became a satellite, just like the four newly discovered satellites of Jupiter.

So the Moon went from being a star AND a planet, to being neither at some point in the 17th century.

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PS: At around that time, it was common (and still is) to call stars "suns" with a small s, and satellites are sometimes called "moons" with a small m.

So, our Sun is a sun around which Earth orbits, and our Moon is the moon of Earth.

I prefer to stick with star and satellite as generic names, and keep Sun and Moon for the two objects that used to be "aster planetes"

Given only the two choices you provided. The moon would appear to be more like a planet than a star.

star [ staar ]

noun (plural stars)

Definition:

mass of gas in space: a gaseous mass in space that generates energy by thermonuclear reactions, e.g. the Sun. Stars range in size from that of a planet to one larger than the Earth's orbit.

planet - plan·et [ plánnət ] (plural plan·ets)

noun

Definition:

1. astronomy object in orbit round star: an astronomical object that orbits a star and does not shine with its own light, especially one of those orbiting the Sun in the solar system

2. astrology astrological influence: in astrology, the Sun, the Moon, or any of the planets of the solar system, except Earth, considered to influence events on Earth and the fate or character of individual people

The moon has many rock formations that are found on the earth. HOwever its surface composition was designed to reflect light at its maximal efficiency.

So it could be called a "Space Mirror Structure." The earth is a Unique Planet structure.

Planet means any massive body orbiting the Sun.

Neither, it is a satellite.

Stars give out heat and light (like the sun).

Planets are the planets we know: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto & the 10th planet (I think they called it Sedna or something of the sort).

You can do more research on the moon using Wikipedia

It's not a star. Stars are huge balls of hydrogen, they create their own light by thermonuclear fusion.

Most stars have planets revolving around them, and most planets have their own satellites (also called moons) revolving around the planets.

The Sun is a star, the Earth is a planet, the Moon is a satellite.

That's the truth, you can bet your asteroid.

The Moon is a satellite, the natural satellite of planet Earth.

Neither, the moon is a satellite of the Earth. It is simply a rock fragment that has gone past the Earth and been attracted by the Earths gravitational pull; thus it orbits the Earth. It is likely that the moon is a rock fragment from a plant, which may have broken off after collision with a meteorite.

The moon is a moon, many planets have moons, ours is just called 'the moon' though, it is the satellite of a planet (our planet - earth).

The moon goes round (orbits) the earth, and the earth goes round the sun. (which is a star)

The moon is a satellite. It orbits a planet which orbits a star. lol I'm assuming this is a joke right?