the.com/dwarf planets
round enough to earn respect, small enough to lose the neighborhood vote.
means a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough to be spherical, but hasn't cleared its orbital path of other debris.
from coined in 2006 when the IAU needed a category for pluto after new telescopes revealed dozens of similar objects lurking in the kuiper belt, forcing astronomers to admit the solar system had a clutter problem.
pluto's demotionreclassified in 2006, sparking decades of public outrage
clearing the neighborhoodthe one criterion that keeps them from being planets
five official onespluto, eris, haumea, makemake, and ceres
more waitingover 100 candidates suspected beyond neptune
for instance
pluto — demoted in 2006, still has five moons and a loyal fanbase
ceres — the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, visited by nasa dawn in 2015
eris — more massive than pluto, its discovery in 2005 triggered the whole reclassification
haumea — spins so fast it's shaped like a football, has its own ring