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Since Pluto's reclassification as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), space exploration has increasingly focused on these celestial bodies. In 2015 significant milestones in dwarf planet exploration were reached with the flybys of Pluto and Ceres by the New Horizons and Dawn spacecraft. [1] [2]
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 ...
The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto, which for decades was regarded as a planet before the "dwarf" concept was adopted in 2006. Dwarf planets are capable of being geologically active, an expectation that was borne out in 2015 by the Dawn mission to Ceres and the New Horizons mission to Pluto.
It is about half the diameter and an eighth the mass of Pluto, a dwarf planet that resides in a frigid region of the outer Solar System called the Kuiper Belt, beyond the most distant planet Neptune.
The largest known trans-Neptunian objects are Pluto and Eris, followed by Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, and Orcus, all of them being officially recognized as dwarf planets by the IAU except for Gonggong, Sedna, and Orcus. There are also many possible dwarf planets, such as Salacia, (307261) 2002 MS 4, Varda, Ixion, and Varuna.
By RYAN GORMAN Scientists may have found Planet X -- the long-rumored object believed to be larger than Earth and further from the sun than Pluto. Planet X and another object dubbed "Planet Y ...
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 ...
Since 2008, there have been five dwarf planets recognized by the IAU, although only Pluto has actually been confirmed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium [25] (Ceres is close to equilibrium, though some anomalies remain unexplained). [26] Ceres orbits in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. The others all orbit beyond Neptune.