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The known icy moons in this range are all ellipsoidal (except Proteus), but trans-Neptunian objects up to 450–500 km radius may be quite porous. For simplicity and comparative purposes, the values are manually calculated assuming that the bodies are all spheres. The size of solid bodies does not include an object's atmosphere.
Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets (including Earth), with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury.
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 07.03.03: "Voyage to the Planets" by Nicholas R. Perrone, 2007 (accessed November 2010) Journey Through the Galaxy: "Planets of the Solar System" by Stuart Robbins and David McDonald, 2006 (accessed November 2010) The Nine Planets, "Appendix 2: Solar System Extrema" by Bill Arnett, 2007 (accessed November 2010)
Eris (38.3–97.5 AU) is the largest known scattered disc object and the most massive known dwarf planet. Eris's discovery contributed to a debate about the definition of a planet because it is 25% more massive than Pluto [220] and about the same diameter.
The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt and over 10,000 in the region beyond. 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 bodies ...
The orbit of Sedna (red) set against the orbits of outer Solar System objects (Pluto's orbit is purple). This is a list of Solar System objects by greatest aphelion or the greatest distance from the Sun that the orbit could take it if the Sun and object were the only objects in the universe. It is implied that the object is orbiting the Sun in ...
The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. There are eight planets within the Solar System; planets outside of the solar system are also known as exoplanets.
A Super-Earth is a type of exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth 's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth's, respectively. [1] The term "super-Earth" refers only to the mass of the planet, and so does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability.