DWARF PLANETS

Wonderous worlds that brave the perilous regions of the solar system.

Almost everyone is familiar with the concept of planets. It seems

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines a planet as having three characteristics:

1. It orbits a star.

2. It’s mostly round.

3. It has cleared its orbit of similarly sized objects.

There are objects in our solar system that meet all three criteria and other objects that meet only two of them. The latter are what we call dwarf planets. These are objects that orbit a star and are mostly round, but they have not cleared their orbits of significant debris, often because they are too small and their neighbors too big or too numerous. It is this third criteria that led astronomers to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet. Sorry to all you Plutonians out there. But being a dwarf planet in no way makes these worlds any less fascinating then proper planets. Let’s dive into those that both confirmed and suspected dwarf planets around the solar system.

CERES