Dwarf planet
Videos
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve orbital dominance like the eight class
Ceres (1801)
Pluto (1930)
Quaoar (2002)
Sedna (2003)
Pluto
Videos
Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known
Dwarf planet
…gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve orbital dominance like the eight classical planets of the Solar System. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto, which for decades was regarded as a planet before the "dwarf" concept was adopted in 2006. Many planetary geologists consider dwarf planets and…
Clyde Tombaugh, in Kansas
Sputnik Planitia is covered with churning nitrogen ice "cells" that are geologically young and turning over due to convection.
A multispectral Visual Imaging Camera image of Pluto in enhanced color to bring out differences in surface composition
Regions where water ice has been detected (blue regions)