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Dwarf planet

Alternative Title: pluton

Dwarf planet, body, other than a natural satellite (moon), that orbits the Sun and that is, for practical purposes, smaller than the planet Mercury yet large enough for its own gravity to have rounded its shape substantially. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted this category of solar system bodies in August 2006, designating Pluto, the even more-remote object Eris, and the asteroid Ceres as the first members of the category. Unlike major planets, these bodies are not massive enough to have swept up most smaller nearby bodies by gravitational attraction; they thus failed to grow larger. The IAU agreed to establish a process for determining which other bodies presently known or to be discovered are dwarf planets. In June 2008 the IAU created a new category, plutoids, within the dwarf planet category. Plutoids are dwarf planets that are farther from the Sun than Neptune. All the dwarf planets except Ceres are plutoids; because of its location in the asteroid belt, Ceres is not. For a discussion of the formal conditions set out by the IAU for a body to be a dwarf planet, see planet.

  • Pluto and three of its moons—Charon, Nix, and Hydra—as observed by the Hubble Space …
    HST Pluto Companion Search/ESA/NASA

The table provides a list of dwarf planets.

Dwarf planets
name mean distance from Sun (AU) orbital period (years) diameter (km) year of discovery notable features
Official dwarf planets*
Ceres 2.77 4.61 980 × 910 1801 largest known asteroid; first asteroid discovered
Pluto 39.5 247.69 2,370 1930 has five moons
Haumea 43.19 283.84 980 × 750 × 500 2003 rotates every 3.9 hours; has elongated shape
Makemake 45.48 306.17 1,500 2005 reddish in colour
Eris 67.84 558.77 2,326 2003 surface coated with methane ice
Notable candidate dwarf planets
Orcus 39.22 245.62 946 2004 named after Roman god of the underworld
2003 AZ84 39.36 246.94 686 2003 has one moon
Ixion 39.70 250.18 650 2001 named after Greek mythological king sentenced to roll a wheel through the underworld
90568 (2004 GV9) 42.10 273.13 677 2004 discovered by U.S. robotic telescopes searching for near-Earth asteroids
55636 (2002 TX300) 43.28 284.69 <800 2002 possible fragment formed from collision with Haumea
Quaoar 43.61 287.97 844 2002 named after the creator god of the Tongva Indians
55565 (2002 AW197) 47.12 323.49 735 2002 discovered by U.S. astronomers at Palomar Observatory
Sedna 488.98 10,812.82 <1,600 2003 has extremely eccentric orbit that takes it as far as 975 AU from the Sun
*As defined by the International Astronomical Union.

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