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Dwarf planets were thus conceived of as a category of planet. In 2006, however, the concept was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a category of sub-planetary objects, part of a three-way recategorization of bodies orbiting the Sun: planets, dwarf planets, and small Solar System bodies. [2]
The violent flaring period of a red dwarf's life cycle is estimated to last for only about the first 1.2 billion years of its existence. If a planet forms far away from a red dwarf so as to avoid atmospheric erosion, and then migrates into the star's habitable zone after this turbulent initial period, it is possible for life to develop. [57]
The geology of the dwarf planet, Ceres, was largely unknown until Dawn spacecraft explored it in early 2015. However, certain surface features such as "Piazzi", named after the dwarf planets' discoverer, had been resolved.[a] Ceres's oblateness is consistent with a differentiated body, a rocky core overlain with an icy mantle.
The habitability of F-type systems may be impaired, though, by the fact that they make up only 3% of the stars in the Milky way, compared to 6–8% for G-types, 12–13% for K-types, and ~70% for red dwarfs. Further study is required to make decisive conclusions about the frequency of habitable planets around F-type stars. [3] [5]
[f] Six planets, seven dwarf planets, and other bodies have orbiting natural satellites, which are commonly called 'moons'. The Solar System is constantly flooded by the Sun's charged particles, the solar wind, forming the heliosphere. Around 75–90 astronomical units from the Sun, [g] the solar wind is halted, resulting in the heliopause.
Six planets, seven dwarf planets, and other bodies have orbiting natural satellites, which are commonly called 'moons'. The Solar System is constantly flooded by the Sun's charged particles, the solar wind, forming the heliosphere. Around 75–90 astronomical units from the Sun, the solar wind is halted, resulting in the heliopause.
Planetary habitability in the Solar System is the study that searches the possible existence of past or present extraterrestrial life in those celestial bodies. As exoplanets are too far away and can only be studied by indirect means, the celestial bodies in the Solar System allow for a much more detailed study: direct telescope observation, space probes, rovers and even human spaceflight.
The Sun is moved by the gravitational pull of the planets. The center of the Sun moves around the Solar System barycenter, within a range from 0.1 to 2.2 solar radii. The Sun's motion around the barycenter approximately repeats every 179 years, rotated by about 30° due primarily to the synodic period of Jupiter and Saturn. [152]