Is a dwarf star not a star? Is a dwarf planet not a planet?

Question

Just kinda wondering how the new dwarf planet category works...

ME: Yes! That is so awesome!
Is a mini-Me not a Me?

Answer 1

The term "dwarf" is a little confusing with respect to stars, because it's applied to a variety of objects, some of which aren't functioning stars. The term is used to describe all stars that aren't some form of giant star, so most stars are dwarfs. These are also referred to as "main sequence" stars. The smallest and dimmest of these are red dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are smaller and dimmer still, but are so small that they only burn for a few million years before starting to cool off. White dwarfs are the dead remnants of stars. They are still very hot, because it takes a long time to radiate away the heat in the core of a star, but they are no longer fusing elements to produce energy. A white dwarf that has cooled to the point where it is no longer radiating light or heat is called a black dwarf. They exist in theory only, as the universe isn't old enough to have produced any.

Dwarf planet is a newly created category to describe objects orbiting the sun that are large enough to be round but too small not to have to share their orbits with other objects. This includes Pluto as well as the largest asteroid (Ceres) and the largest of the Kuiper Belt objects.

Answer 2

Our own sun is classified as a yellow dwarf and it's very much a star. Dwarf planet if just a name they came up with because they might find dozens of Pluto size worlds in the Kuiper belt, and they wanted to differentiate them from the larger classical planets.

Answer 3

Dwarf stars are relatively small stars, up to 20 times larger than our sun and up to 20,000 times brighter. Our sun is a dwarf star.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the official scientific body for astronomical nomenclature, defines a "dwarf planet" as a celestial body within the Solar System that satisfies these four conditions:

Is in orbit around the Sun.

Has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape.

Has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

Is not a satellite.

The term "dwarf planet" was adopted in 2006 as part of a three-way classification of bodies orbiting the Sun. Objects that are large enough to have cleared the neighbourhood of their orbit are defined as "planets", while those which are too small to be in hydrostatic equilibrium are defined as "small solar system bodies". As defined, the term "dwarf planet" does not apply to other planetary systems.

Three dwarf planets are currently recognized: Ceres, Pluto and Eris.

Answer 4

A dwarf star is a star that has exhausted it's hydrogen fuel, and has been compressed by gravity until very dense.
This article explains the four conditions that define a dwarf planet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planets

Answer 5

Think of it more like a subcategory. An area to place items when they don't quite fall into the planet or asteroid description due to either their size or their orbits.

Dwarf stars are sort of the same. Technically they're stars but they don't quite fit the standard definition so a subcategory was created for such objects.

Answer 6

is a dwarf not a little person

Answer 7

is a dwarf person not a person?