Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 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.
15760 Albion (provisional designation 1992 QB 1) was the first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered after Pluto and Charon. Measuring about 108–167 kilometres in diameter, it was discovered in 1992 by David C. Jewitt and Jane X. Luu at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. After the discovery, they dubbed the object "Smiley" and it was ...
Before 486958 Arrokoth was discovered in 2014, Arawn was the best known target for a flyby by the New Horizons spacecraft after its Pluto flyby in 2015. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] Arawn was one of the first objects targeted for distant observations by New Horizons , which were taken on 2 November 2015. [ 17 ]
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 Spitzer Space Telescope has estimated its size at 686 ± 96 km, [16] while an analysis of a combination of Spitzer and Herschel data yielded a slightly higher estimate of 727.0 +61.9 −66.5 km. [17] These results are in agreement with each other. [a] The large size of 2003 AZ 84 makes it a possible dwarf planet. However, if one assumes it ...
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 ...
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.