2006-12-14 15:46:36 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Currently, there are three celestial bodies that have been redefined by the IAU as dwarf planets, UB313 informally known as Xena, and formally known as Eris, Pluto, and Ceres.
2006-12-14 16:12:43 · answer #1 · answered by lucky77 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is Pluto a planet???? Yes and no... Well for starters, Pluto is just too small. In the neighborhood where Pluto lives? Planets are supposed to be huge. The Jovian planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are 20 to 300 times the size of the Earth, and Pluto is really small compared to the Earth, smaller than our Moon. Kind of stands out. And Pluto is not made out the same material as the Jovians. The large planets are mostly gigantic spheres of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. Likely there are no solid surfaces, only denser and denser gas all the way in. Pluto is a small solid world of methane, water, carbon dioxide and ammonia ices, maybe a little rock and with a just hint of atmosphere (that freezes out and falls as snow in her "winter"). And third, Pluto's orbit is the most eccentric (oval shaped) and the most tilted to the plane that the rest of the planets orbit in. Also, Pluto is locked in a resonance with Neptune's orbit and comes closer to the sun than Neptune sometimes. There were theories that Pluto was a lost moon of Neptune but that was before we discovered she a has one large moon (Charon) half her size (pretty much, this system is a double planet) and recently two other teeny-tiney moons (Nix and Hydra). Pluto seems like she cant be an ejected moon-she must have formed on her own and seems to be part of an entire army of small icey-dwarf objects that circle just outside Neptune's orbit in what is known as the Kuiper belt. We have no idea of how many or how large these objects may be, hundreds???? NOT "planets" proper, hence the new term "dwarf planet" where Pluto is king. But... I still think Pluto SHOULD be called a planet because of historical reasons (discovered by an American, financed by Percival Lowell, Tombaugh's life story, etc).
2016-05-24 18:06:51 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not even liking the idea of a dwarf planet. It was a compromise between those that wanted that snowball to remain classified as a planet, and those that realize that pluto is only one of many out there in the kupyer (did I spell that right?) belt. It was never a planet to begin with. Just because it had a name?? Abe Lincoln once said that if you call a tail a leg, then how many legs does a dog have? His answer was, still only 4... calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one. Same with Pluto.
2006-12-14 16:20:08 · answer #3 · answered by Regular Guy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Officially, as decided by the International Astronomical Union (..the dudes that determine these kinds of things) there are THREE dwarf planets in our solar system --
Pluto
Ceres
Xena
2006-12-14 16:15:49 · answer #4 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we have identified three dwarf planets here is a link to find out more
2006-12-14 15:49:47 · answer #5 · answered by Metlas 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think Pluto is considered the only one at the moment. They found one further out, but I don't think they are calling it a planet just yet.
2006-12-14 15:48:01 · answer #6 · answered by chris_in_columbia 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i think in the solar system has one dwarf planet.it has considered by the name of pluto.
2006-12-14 17:51:32 · answer #7 · answered by nasa_partha_malakar 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
3. Ceres, Pluto and Eris
2006-12-14 15:53:34 · answer #8 · answered by Lupin IV 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Currently there are three:
Ceres
Pluto
Eris
in that order out from the sun.
2006-12-14 17:47:03 · answer #9 · answered by Northstar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Three I believe....Pluto, and two other small planets beyond Pluto.
2006-12-14 15:48:34 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋