What is a Dwarf planet?
The Dwarf planet above is Ceres.
A Dwarf planet is a Celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mas for it's self-gravity to over come rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape, has not cleared the neighbor around it's orbit, and it is not studied by a satellite.
Celestial body-" Any aggregation of matter in space constituting a unit for astronomical study, as the sun, moon, a planet, comet, star, or nebula. Also known as heavenly body."
Celestial body-" Any aggregation of matter in space constituting a unit for astronomical study, as the sun, moon, a planet, comet, star, or nebula. Also known as heavenly body."
Acknowledged Dwarf Planets
There are currently five celestial bodies that have been re identified by the IAU as dwarf planets. Four of the five have been reclassified as plutoids:
UB313 (also known as Xena, and now known as Eris)
Pluto (is also known as a plutoid)
Ceres (stays in the category of dwarf planet)
MakeMake is also known as a plutoid.)
Haumea (also known as a plutoid. this planet was originally originally called "Santa."
The Dwarf planets in the picture above are
Eris, Ceres, Charon, and Pluto.
The dwarf planets
Pluto was formerly known as the smallest of the nine, that was of course before it regrouped as a Dwarf planet. The largest know asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is Ceres, which is also a Dwarf planet. There are three other planets know to be orbiting the sun, there names are Pluto, Makemake, and Haumea.
The Dwarf planets above are Ceres, pluto, ans Eris
The Dwarf planets above are Ceres, pluto, ans Eris
Pluto
Pluto is a cold ball of ice and rock located in our solar system. Pluto was discovered in 1930 . In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided Pluto was to small to be a planet, so named it to be a Dwarf planet.. While in 1930, Pluto was known to be the smallest planet in our solar system and smallest out of the 9 planets(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), Pluto is now know as one of the largest Dwarf planets and one of the biggest ice objects.
Ceres
Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801 by the Italian astronomer and monk Giuseppe Piazzi. Ceres is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. In 2006 Ceres like Pluto was known as a Dwarf planet. Ceres's diameter is about 975 km (605 miles). It is largest and has the most mass in the main asteroid belt..Ceres orbits the sun about every 4 years. It's located between Mars and Jupiter. The Dwarf planet turns on its axis once every 9 hours.
Haumea
Haumea is also located in our solar system. Haumea is the 5th Dwarf planet. Haumea was classified as a Dwarf planet in 2008. Haumea like Pluto is made of ice and rock. It takes Haumea 285 years to orbit the sun one time! Haumea is farther away from the sun than Pluto. Haumea is not a sphere because it rotates so fast it made the Dwarf planet into a more of an ellipsoid or 3d eclipse. So far Haumea has two known moons, they were discovered in 2005. The names of Haumea are Hi'iaka and Namaka.
"This is what an artist thinks Haumea looks like. This drawing shows the dwarf planet and its two moons Hi'iaka and Namaka. Notice how Haumea's fast spin has stretched it into an oval (not spherical) shape.
Click on image for full size
Images courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Feild"
"This is what an artist thinks Haumea looks like. This drawing shows the dwarf planet and its two moons Hi'iaka and Namaka. Notice how Haumea's fast spin has stretched it into an oval (not spherical) shape.
Click on image for full size
Images courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Feild"
Makemake
Makemake was discovered in March 2005 by a team of astronomers led by Mike Brown. Makemake was known as a dwarf planet in July 2008. It takes Makemake 310 years to orbit the Sun once!Makemake is named after a god of the Rapa Nuli people of Easter Island. Makemake is smaller than Pluto or Eris
Eris
Eris was discovered by Michael Brown in January 2005. Like Pluto, Eris is made of ice and rock, and is in a sphere shape. Some astronomers called Eris our solar systems "tenth planet" when it was first discovered in 2005. After a lot of discussion, astronomers decided to make up a new category for objects like Eris. That is where the name Dwarf planets comes from.
