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Composite exaggerated-colour image of Pluto and its moon Charon.Separation not to scale 4 Vesta, an asteroid that was once a dwarf planet [6]. Starting in 1801, astronomers discovered Ceres and other bodies between Mars and Jupiter that for decades were considered to be planets.
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 non-satellite body fulfilling only the first two of these criteria (such as Pluto, which had hitherto been considered a planet) is classified as a dwarf planet. According to the IAU, "planets and dwarf planets are two distinct classes of objects" – in other words, "dwarf planets" are not planets.
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 ...
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.
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris.
Pluto's reign. For decades, students learned the phrase "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" to remember the order of the planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars ...
Former planets of the Solar System Former planet Discovery Removal Current status Notes The Morning Star [NB 1]: Antiquity: Antiquity: Aspects of Venus "Phosphorus", the Morning Star of Greek antiquity (Eosphorus, the Dawn-Bringer; called "Lucifer" by the Romans), and "Hesperus", the Evening Star (called "Vesper" by the Romans), were later identified as a single planet, Venus (Aphrodite).