What does dwarf planet mean?

Definitions for dwarf planet
dwarf plan·et

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word dwarf planet.

Wiktionary

  1. dwarf planetnoun

    As defined by the International Astronomical Union, any body which has achieved hydrostatic equilibrium (which is the shape a body of water would take, as opposed to a small Solar System body), orbits the Sun (as opposed to a moon), and has not "cleared its neighbourhood" of competing bodies (as opposed to a planet).

Wikipedia

  1. Dwarf planet

    A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto. The interest of dwarf planets to planetary geologists is that they may be geologically active bodies, an expectation that was borne out in 2015 by the Dawn mission to Ceres and the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Astronomers are in general agreement that at least the nine largest candidates are dwarf planets: Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, and Orcus. Of these nine plus the tenth-largest candidate Salacia, two have been visited by spacecraft (Pluto and Ceres) and seven others have at least one known moon (Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, and Salacia), which allows their masses and thus an estimate of their densities to be determined. Mass and density in turn can be fit into geophysical models in an attempt to determine the nature of these worlds. Only one, Sedna, has neither been visited nor has any known moons, making an accurate estimate of mass difficult. Some astronomers include many smaller bodies as well, but there is no consensus that these are likely to be dwarf planets. The term dwarf planet was coined by planetary scientist Alan Stern as part of a three-way categorization of planetary-mass objects in the Solar System: classical planets, dwarf planets, and satellite planets. Dwarf planets were thus conceived of as a category of planet. However, in 2006, the concept was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a category of sub–planetary objects, part of a three-way recategorization of bodies orbiting the Sun: planets, dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Thus Stern and other planetary geologists consider dwarf planets and large satellites to be planets, but since 2006, the IAU and perhaps the majority of astronomers have excluded them from the roster of planets.

Wikidata

  1. Dwarf planet

    A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a planet nor a satellite. More explicitly, the International Astronomical Union defines a dwarf planet as a celestial body in direct orbit of the Sun that is massive enough for its shape to be controlled by gravitation, but that unlike a planet has not cleared its orbital region of other objects. The term dwarf planet was adopted in 2006 as part of a three-way categorization of bodies orbiting the Sun, brought about by an increase in discoveries of trans-Neptunian objects that rivaled Pluto in size, and finally precipitated by the discovery of an even more massive object, Eris. This classification states that bodies large enough to have cleared the neighbourhood of their orbit are defined as planets, while those that are not massive enough to be rounded by their own gravity are defined as small Solar System bodies. Dwarf planets come in between. The exclusion of dwarf planets from the roster of planets by the IAU has been both praised and criticized; it was said to be the "right decision" by Mike Brown, who discovered Eris and other new dwarf planets, but has been rejected by Alan Stern, who had coined the term dwarf planet in 1990.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of dwarf planet in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of dwarf planet in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of dwarf planet in a Sentence

  1. Marc Rayman:

    We are tremendously excited, we have guided this robotic probe for well over seven years on an interplanetary journey of more than 3 billion miles. Along the way we sailed past Mars. We spent 14 months orbiting and scrutinizing the giant protoplanet Vesta. ... Now, finally, we are on the verge of conducting the first exploration ever of the first dwarf planet.

  2. Sam Deen:

    Based on the given absolute magnitude, and given how exceptionally red it looked in 2014 precovery images from CFHT (the g - r color was 0.9, and r - i was 0.5!) I would estimate at an albedo of 0.01-0.08 a diameter of 130-370 kilometers (nominally 160) which puts it on a similar scale, if not larger than, Sarabat's huge comet C/1729 P1, and almost undoubtedly the largest Oort Cloud object ever discovered- almost in dwarf planet territory! i have little doubt in my mind that as this gets closer to the sun, it will begin displaying the coma and tail typical of every other object yet seen in its orbit.

  3. Jim Green:

    The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down, the New Horizons mission's why we explore -- to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon. Related : Spacecraft achieves flyby of Pluto, then calls home September NASA, which is discussing a slew of Pluto discoveries at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Md. this week, highlighted the ‘ cryovolcanoes ’ as a key finding. Geologists on the New Horizons team combined images of Pluto’s surface to make 3-D maps that indicate two of Pluto’s most distinctive mountains could be ice volcanoes. In its statement September NASA explained that the ‘ cryovolcanoes ’ may even have been active in the recent past. The two candidates are large features on the dwarf planet’s surface measuring tens of miles across and several miles high. Related : September NASA releases first Pluto flyby images.


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"dwarf planet." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/dwarf+planet>.

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