What is a dwarf planet?
A smaller planet whose gravitational pull is weak is called dwarf planet.
Because of their weak gravitational pull their orbits have debris.
Are dwarf planets are satellites for other planets?
No, they are not satellites of other planets.
What is a Planet?
A planet is a strong spherical object that orbits a star and has gravitational.
How many dwarf planets are found?
So far, three dwarf planets are found.
- Pluto (in our solar system)
- Ceres (in Asteroid Belt)
- Eris (in Kuiper Belt)
There are more dwarf planets and they will likely soon be identified.
What is Solar System?
The sun together with all the planets and other bodies connected with it is called the solar system.
What is Asteroid belt?
It is nearly a flat ring orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
It contains small rocky bodies. Each body is of about 600 miles or less in diameter.
What is Kuiper belt?
It is a flat ring of icy small bodies revolving round the sun beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune.
It is named for the Gerard P. Kuiper, the Dutch-American astronomer.
Pluto Downgraded to Dwarf Planet… Why?
Pluto used to be treated as planet till 2006 after 76 years of its discovery.
The members of IAU (International Astronomical Union) in 2006 downgraded Pluto to dwarf planet from the status of the 9th planet in our solar system after intense argument.
Astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh, with contributions from William H. Pickering discovered Pluto in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Are there any planets other than dwarf planets existing outside our solar system?
Yes, there are other types of planets that exist beyond our solar system. They are called exoplanets.
What are exoplanets?
It is the short form of extra solar planets. They exist outside our solar system.
They are known as super-Earths and hot Jupiters.
Super-Earths:
They are made of rock and ice. Their size is about two to three times of earth’s size.
They orbit suns (cooler red star) about half the size of our sun.
Is life expected on the super-Earths?
Yes, there are chances of life existing on the super-Earths.
If a super-Earth moves around its sun (red star) at a safe distance, that might support life.
Hot-Jupiters:
They are made of gas. They closely orbit their stars (suns). They are larger than our Jupiter and can be easily detected by their large size.
