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A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve orbital dominance like the eight classical planets of the Solar System. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto, which for decades was regarded as a planet before the "dwarf" concept ...
The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt [1] and over 10,000 in the region beyond. [2] However, consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many large trans-Neptunian objects, as well as spectroscopic analysis of their surfaces, suggests that the number of dwarf planets may be much lower, perhaps only nine among ...
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris.
Eris ( minor-planet designation: 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. [22] It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high- eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory –based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year.
Makemake. Makemake[ e] ( minor-planet designation: 136472 Makemake) is a dwarf planet and the largest of what is known as the classical population of Kuiper belt objects, [ b] with a diameter approximately that of Saturn's moon Iapetus, or 60% that of Pluto. [ 24][ 25] It has one known satellite. [ 26]
Ceres(minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planetin the middle main asteroid beltbetween the orbits of Marsand Jupiter. It was the first known asteroid, discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazziat Palermo Astronomical Observatoryin Sicily, and announced as a new planet.
It is not clear how many KBOs are large enough to be dwarf planets. Consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many dwarf-planet candidates suggests that not many are. [113] Orcus, Pluto, Haumea, Quaoar, and Makemake are accepted by most astronomers; some have proposed other bodies, such as Salacia, 2002 MS 4, [114] 2002 AW 197, and ...
1.83±0.05[14] 1.3[2] Sedna(minor-planet designation: 90377 Sedna) is a dwarf planetin the outermost reaches of the Solar System, orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune. Discovered in 2003, the planetoid's surface is one of the reddestknown among Solar System bodies. Spectroscopyhas revealed Sedna's surface to be mostly a mixture of the ...