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Composite exaggerated-color image of Pluto and its moon Charon.Separation not to scale 4 Vesta, an asteroid that was once a dwarf planet [4]. Starting in 1801, astronomers discovered Ceres and other bodies between Mars and Jupiter that for decades were considered to be planets.
The symbol for Ceres, as well as the second symbol for Uranus, was taken from material published by James L. Hilton. [104] The other dwarf-planet symbols were invented by Denis Moskowitz, a software engineer in Massachusetts. His symbols for Haumea, Makemake, and Eris appear in a NASA JPL infographic, as does the second symbol for Pluto. [105]
Eris's discovery contributed to a debate about the definition of a planet because it is 25% more massive than Pluto [219] and about the same diameter. It has one known moon, Dysnomia . Like Pluto, its orbit is highly eccentric, with a perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly Pluto's distance from the Sun) and an aphelion of 97.6 AU, and steeply inclined ...
It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has roughly one-sixth the mass of the Moon, and one-third its volume.
Dwarf planet Eris, similar in size to its better-known cosmic cousin Pluto, has remained an enigma since being discovered in 2005 lurking in the solar system's far reaches. While Pluto was ...
This makes Eris a little smaller than Pluto by area and diameter, which is 2372 ± 4 km across, although Eris is more massive. It also indicates a geometric albedo of 0.96. It is speculated that the high albedo is due to the surface ices being replenished because of temperature fluctuations as Eris's eccentric orbit takes it closer and farther ...
The two satellites of TNOs that surpass this threshold have also been included: Pluto's moon Charon and Eris' moon Dysnomia. The next largest TNO moon is Orcus' moon Vanth at 442.5 ± 10.2 km and a poorly constrained (87 ± 8) × 10 18 kg, with an albedo of about 8%. Ceres, generally accepted as a dwarf planet, is added for comparison.
Pluto, a dwarf planet. Complete list of Pluto's natural satellites. Charon; Twotinos; Cubewanos (classical objects) Haumea, a dwarf planet. Namaka; Hiʻiaka; 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 ...