Dwarf Planets

Ian MorrisAstronomy 1040

What is a Dwarf Planet?

In order to be considered a Dwarf Planet certain criteria must be met.

What is a Dwarf Planet?

• It is an object in orbit around the Sun.

What is a Dwarf Planet?

• It has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a

hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape.

What is a Dwarf Planet?

• It has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

• It Is not a satellite of a Planet.

The Dwarf Planets• Eris• Pluto•Makemake• Haumea • Ceres

Eris• Discovered

January 5, 2005 by Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz.

Eris• Largest

Dwarf Planet. It is 23% of Earths Moon.• Has one

Moon:• Dysnomia

Eris• Orbits the

Sun every 560 years.• Orbital

Inclination is 44 degrees.

Pluto• Discovered

February 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh using Newtonian Mechanics.

Pluto• 2nd Largest of

the Dwarf Planets• 3 Moons:• Charon• Hydra• Nix

Pluto

• Mass is about 17% of Earths Moon.• Atmosphere is Methane and Carbon Dioxide.

Pluto

• Pluto Orbits the sun every 246 years.• Orbital inclination is 17 degrees.

Pluto

• Pluto Orbits around a point outside its central mass due to the mass of Charon. A Binary Planet.

• Pluto and Charon are tidally locked. The same face is always in the others sky.

Haumea• Discovered

December 28, 2004 by Mike Brown.• Has 2 moons:• Hiraka• Namaka

Haumea• The elliptical

shape is believed to be the result of a collision.• Its mass is

about 6% of Earths Moon

Haumea

• Orbits the Sun every 238 years.• Orbital Inclination is 28 degrees.

Makemake• Discovered

March 31, 2005 by Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz.

Makemake• Has no known

Moons.• The surface is

thought to be similar to Pluto's as both Methane and Nitrogen are present.

Makemake

• Orbits the sun every 309 years• Orbital inclination is 29 degrees.

Ceres• Discovered

January 1 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi• Lies in the

asteroid belt.• Is the only

Dwarf Planet outside the Kuiper Belt.

Ceres• Is composed

mostly of rock and water ice.• Up to 200

million cubic kilometers of water ice.• The crust is

100 km thick ice.

Ceres

• Orbital Period of 4.6 years• Orbital Inclination is about 10 degrees

Citations

• http://www.iau.org/• http

://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/2003EL61/• http://science.nationalgeographic.com/scienc

e/space/solar-system/dwarf-planet/