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Because new planets are discovered infrequently, the IAU did not have any mechanism for their definition and naming. After the discovery of Sedna, it set up a 19-member committee in 2005, with the British astronomer Iwan Williams in the chair, to consider the definition of a planet. It proposed three definitions that could be adopted: Cultural
As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
The term 'dwarf planet' arguably contains two words, a noun (planet) and an adjective (dwarf). Thus, the term could suggest that a dwarf planet is a type of planet, even though the IAU explicitly defines a dwarf planet as not so being. By this formulation therefore, 'dwarf planet' and 'minor planet' are best considered compound nouns.
As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
The middle layer was characterized by the presence of sodium, with a jet stream blowing circularly around the planet at about 43,500 miles (70,000 km) per hour - stronger than any winds in our ...
To found an authority on planetary nomenclature, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) was organized in 1919 to designate and standardize names for features on Solar System bodies. [ 2 ] The heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio , on Pluto, is named after the planet's discoverer Clyde Tombaugh .
Under the criteria of classifying these Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), it became dubious whether Pluto would have been considered a planet had it been discovered in the 1990s. Its mass is now known to be much smaller than once thought and, with the discovery of Eris , it is simply one of the two largest known trans-Neptunian objects.
"Clearing the neighbourhood" is one of three necessary criteria for a celestial body to be considered a planet in the Solar System, according to the definition adopted in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). [1] In 2015, a proposal was made to extend the definition to exoplanets. [2]