DWARF PLANETS

WHAT ARE DWARF PLANETS?

Too small to be a regular planet, but too large to be in a smaller category

WHAT IS A PLANET?

In orbit around the sun, have enough gravity to pull its mass into a rounded
shape, and has cleared its orbit of other smaller objects

This is where planets and dwarf planets differ.

A planets gravity attracts of pushes other smaller objects out of the way, but
dwarf planets dont have enough gravity to sufficiently do this

HOW BIG ARE DWARF PLANETS?

Imagine this

The sun is the size of a typical front door

Earth is the size of a nickel

Dwarf planets, like Pluto and Eris, are the size of the head of a pin

CERES

Earliest known dwarf planet

Current smallest

Discovered in 1801 by the Sicilian astronomer, Giuseppe Piazzi based on a prediction

Diameter: 590 miles

Mass: 0.015% of Earths

So small, it is classified as a dwarf planet and asteroid

Often named in scientific literature as the largest asteroid in the Solar System

Nearly round body

May have water vapor and ice beneath the surface

DAWN

A mission to collect data from Ceres

Launched on September 27, 2007

Departure from Vesta on July 16, 2011

Arrives at Ceres on March 6, 2015 and is currently collecting data there

Entered first science orbit on April 23,2015

Has been classified as a planet, asteroid, and dwarf planet since 1801

Mapped Vesta (brightest asteroid in space) finding exotic and diverse protuplanets

Unlocked some secrets of how the Solar System, including Earth, was formed

Dawn traveled 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion km) to get from Earth to Vesta, 990 million
miles (1.6 billion km) more to reach Ceres

On July 16 (no year) it will be the first probe to orbit around an object in the main asteroid
belt between Mars and Jupiter

Vesta

PLUTO

Most well-known

Discovered in 1930 and was classified as a planet until 2006

Its erratic orbit at times makes it closer to the Sun than Neptune

Mass: 0.2% of Earths

Has enough gravity to have 5 moons

NEW HORIZONS

Set to arrive at the Pluto-Charon system July 14, 2015 (this summer)

New Horizons is the first spacecraft to ever study Pluto

The spacecraft woke up from a 9 year sleep in winter of 2014 to begin studying Pluto
from a distance

ERIS

Thought to be the largest dwarf planet

Mass: 27% larger than Pluto

Diameter: 1,400-1,500 miles (approximate)

Crosses Plutos orbit

Nearly intersects Neptunes orbit

Takes 557 years to orbit the Sun

HAUMEA

Most recently found dwarf planet

Has an ellipsoid shape due to rapid rotational spinning

Mass: 1/3% of Plutos

Cigar shaped planet rotates on its axis every 4 years, likely a result of collision

The red spot on it is a layer of crystalline ice

The only object in the Kuiper Belt other than Pluto known to have more than 1 moon

MAKEMAKE

The only dwarf planet discovered so far to not have a satellite which makes it hard to
measure the mass

Diameter: 2/3% of Plutos (approximate)

Comparable mass and diameter to Pluto so Makemake would be a planet if Pluto still was

PLUTOIDS

A dwarf planet with an orbit outside that of Neptune

Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake are plutoids

Sometimes referred to as ice dwarfs

Triton (largest moon of Pluto) is likely to be a captured plutoid

The odd tilt of Uranus is possibly due to collision with a plutoid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_iEn4C9nss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er5L6cxnRTc

http://www.teachertube.com/video/dwarf-planets-32347

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