There are so many questions that one could ask about dwarf planets, such as (What are dwarfing planets? How could this be? What identifies a planet as being dwarf?) Just a few, but for the purpose of this article it is. What are Dwarf Planets?
Planet, Stars and the Solar system have been of great interest to people for many years and will continue for many generations to come. Our ancient ancestors used the stars to guide them from place to place; they weren’t much concerned about dwarf planets. They were curious as to what was in that vast ocean of blue heavens above them. So the search began centuries ago, in search of dwarf planets. Here we are today with modern research equipment and ways of exploring our universe to find the answers too many of these questions.
The International Astronomical Union was the first to define dwarf planets. Their definition of a dwarf plant is a celestial body orbiting the sun. It has to be massive enough to form a spherical size resulting from its own gravity yet has not cleared neighboring region’s planets, and it must not be a satellite.
The dwarf planet must have sufficient mass in order to overcome its own compressive strength for it to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium.
Adopted in 2006 dwarf plants was a three-way categorization, which orbit the Sun, this was brought about by the increase in discovery of trans- Neptunium objects that surround Pluto in size. This resulted in the discovery of Eris.
Planets that are not massive enough and rounded by their gravity are smaller solar bodies.
The definition Draft Plant officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2006 has been disputed and praised.
Presently, the International Astronomical Union recognizes five dwarf planets. They are Cereus, Pluto, Haumea, Make make, and Eris. Makemake and Haumea went through naming procedures before they were defined as dwarf planets. This had to do with the International Astronomical Unions requirements as to the size and brightness of the planet.
It is possible many more dwarf planets are just waiting to be discovered. There are 40 such objects, in the solar system that is thought to be dwarf planets. It is estimated that up to 200 may be found as the Kuiper belt is explored. That estimate could reach 2,000 when the objects outside Kuiper are explored and considered..
