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The second resolution, 5B, defined dwarf planets as a subtype of planet, as Stern had originally intended, distinguished from the other eight that were to be called "classical planets". Under this arrangement, the twelve planets of the rejected proposal were to be preserved in a distinction between eight classical planets and four dwarf planets.
The radii of these objects range over three orders of magnitude, from planetary-mass objects like dwarf planets and some moons to the planets and the Sun. This list does not include small Solar System bodies , but it does include a sample of possible planetary-mass objects whose shapes have yet to be determined.
Terrestrial planets have numerous similarities to dwarf planets (objects like Pluto), which also have a solid surface, but are primarily composed of icy materials. During the formation of the Solar System, there were probably many more ( planetesimals ), but they have all merged with or been destroyed by the four remaining worlds in the solar ...
Quaoar, a dwarf planet. Weywot; Makemake, a dwarf planet (307261) 2002 MS 4; 120347 Salacia; 20000 Varuna; Scattered-disc objects Gonggong, a dwarf planet. Xiangliu; Eris, a dwarf planet. Dysnomia (84522) 2002 TC 302 (87269) 2000 OO 67; V774104; Detached objects. 2004 XR 190; 2012 VP 113 (possibly inner Oort cloud) Sedna, a dwarf planet ...
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.
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 Sun, planets, moons and dwarf planets (true color, size to scale, distances not to scale) The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Solar System: Solar System – gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of those objects that orbit the ...
Composite image showing the round dwarf planet Ceres; the slightly smaller, mostly round Vesta; and the much smaller, much lumpier Eros. The IAU definitions of planet and dwarf planet require that a Sun-orbiting astronomical body has undergone the rounding process to reach a roughly spherical shape, an achievement known as hydrostatic equilibrium.