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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 ...
A 2023 study of (307261) 2002 MS 4 shows that it probably has an extremely large crater, whose depth takes up 5.7% of its diameter: this is proportionally larger than the Rheasilvia crater on Vesta, which is the reason Vesta is not usually considered a dwarf planet today.
Vesta (radius 262.7 ± 0.1 km), the second-largest asteroid, appears to have a differentiated interior and therefore likely was once a dwarf planet, but it is no longer very round today. [74] Pallas (radius 255.5 ± 2 km), the third-largest asteroid, appears never to have completed differentiation and likewise has an irregular shape.
dwarf planet; belt asteroid: 1801 Orcus 90482: 455 +25 −20: 0.0719 0.404 0.0004 0.548 ± 0.010 [55] 0.000092 1.4 ± 0.2 [55] 0.2 0.0204 dwarf planet; plutino; binary: 2004 Sedna 90377: 453 +157 −129: 0.0785 0.516 0.0005 dwarf planet; sednoid; detached object: 2003 Salacia 120347: 423 ± 11: 0.0664 0.373 0.0003 0.492 ± 0.007 [56] 0.000082 1 ...
An icy dwarf only half the size of the United States, it was on average 3.7 billion miles from the sun. It also has a decidedly strange orbit that was highly elliptical and tilted. At times it is ...
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted a definition of a planet in the Solar System, placing the four terrestrial planets and the four giant planets in the planet category; Ceres, Pluto, and Eris are in the category of dwarf planet. [2] [3] [4] Many planetary scientists have nonetheless continued to apply the term planet ...
Dwarf planet: Following its discovery in 1930, Pluto was considered the ninth planet. Numerous scientific discoveries in the 1990s and early 2000s placed doubt on this classification, and after the discovery of Eris, which was thought to be larger than Pluto, the International Astronomical Union met to determine a definition of a planet.
Objects are called dwarf planets if their own gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and form an ellipsoidal shape. All other minor planets and comets are called small Solar System bodies. [1] The IAU stated that the term minor planet may still be used, but the term small Solar System body will be preferred. [8]