Glossary term: Dwarf Planet
Description: A dwarf planet is a celestial body with the following properties: It orbits around the Sun, has enough mass to obtain a nearly round shape, has not cleared its path along its orbit, and is not a moon. Dwarf planets tend to orbit in regions made up of similar bodies, as in the case of the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt. In general, dwarf planets are smaller than Mercury, with icy, rocky structures. The amount of ice relative to the rocks depends on their position in the Solar System. Pluto is the most famous dwarf planet. The term dwarf planet should not be confused with the obsolete term minor planet.
Related Terms:
- Asteroid
- Asteroid Belt
- Kuiper Belt
- Minor Planet
- Pluto
- Trans-Neptunian Object
- Small Solar System Body
See this term in other languages
Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
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In Other Languages
- Arabic: الكوكب القزم
- German: Zwergplanet
- Spanish: Planeta enano
- French: Planète naine
- Italian: Pianeta nano
- Japanese: 準惑星 (external link)
- Simplified Chinese: 矮行星
- Traditional Chinese: 矮行星
Related Media
Pluto
Caption: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced colour view of the dwarf planet Pluto on in July 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). Pluto’s surface appears enhanced in this view to a rainbow of pale blues, yellows, oranges, and deep reds. The image resolves details and colours on scales as small as 1.3 kilometers.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
credit link
License: PD Public Domain icons
Ceres
Caption: True-colour image of the asteroid Ceres acquired by the spaceprobe Dawn in May 2015, at a distance of 13641 km. The prominent, bright crater at right is Haulani. The smaller bright spot to its left is exposed on the floor of Oxo. Ejecta from these impacts appears to have exposed bright material, probably water ice.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / Justin Cowart
License: CC-BY-2.0 Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic icons
