Since ancient times, the universe had captivated people’s imagination and curiosity. With the limitation on technology, early sky watchers were only capable of classifying objects they observed as either a star or a planet. During the twentieth century, with advancement in telescopes to see further into space with more accurate details, scientists were able to find numerous stars and planet like objects within the solar system. Scientists had no trouble classifying objects such as Uranus and Neptune as planets. However, the real trouble came when they discovered a planetary object called Ceres. Objects like Ceres and Pluto behaved similarly to regular planets. Because of the limitations on the technology at the time, it was very difficult to observe precise details about these objects. As a result, they had a tough problem whether to classify it as a planet. During the 1990’s, scientists discovered more Pluto like objects in the Kuiper Belt. In the last decade, with new larger and powerful telescopes, scientists had more evidence to reclassify the planet like objects into their own separate category. Dwarf planets had the potential to become planets like the eight planets we know today, however, because of unfortunate events during the early formation of the solar system, objects like Pluto and Ceres were moved into a new category called dwarf planets.
A dwarf planet is a planetary object that was neither a planet nor a satellite as defined by the International Astronomical Union or the IAU. Most of the known dwarf planets in the solar system are located past Neptune in the Kuiper Belt region with the exception of Ceres. The first five recognized were Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumea. The International Astronomical Union...
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...r objects around it which caused it to become a dwarf. The limited technology of early human history never allowed astronomers to get a good glimpse of our Solar System. This results in misleading observation which causes misclassification of bodies in the sky. This happened to many bodies in our early history. Two well known examples were Pluto and Ceres. The misclassification only went unaccounted for until technology started to advance and astronomers were finding more and more of these smaller planets. A little more than seven years before, we finally gave them a new name and category called dwarf planets and a way to define planets. As new technology is created, astronomers will be capable of finding new objects further in the Kuiper Belt region with better details and results. Eventually astronomers will find new dwarf planets to add to the present day list.
Brown dwarfs are objects in space that sit between the lines of being a star and a planet. This object is dim and hard to distinguish from low mass stars at the early stages of the dwarf’s life. They are often called failed stars because they start their life the same way as regular stars. However, in some stage, they just didn’t have enough mass gathered to generate the fusion-powered energy of a star. Scientists are certain that brown dwarfs are the missing link between stars and planets but the formations of dwarfs are still a mystery.
...rst two letters of the name Pluto-was chosen as the planet’s astronomical symbol. Unfortunately, we learn later that Lowell’s Planet X theory is incorrect. In 1978, Pluto’s mass was found with the discovery of Charon, Pluto’s moon. Pluto, being a small planet, would have weak gravity. Therefore, this diminutive gravity could not affect the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. It was also revealed later that the strange orbits of Uranus and Neptune were due to the erroneous value of Neptune’s mass.
It was at first thought to be bigger than Pluto later it ended up being somewhat smaller than Pluto. Eris finishes one rotation around the Sun in 580 years. Eris is the reason why Pluto’s planetary status was changed to being a dwarf planet. The Kuiper Belt has a section called Classic Kuiper Belt. This is the busiest area of this belt and is situated at a distance of around 42 to 48 AU. In the beginning, when the solar system was created gas, dust and rocks, came together to form planets. Most of the debris was swept away by gravitational pull for those planets, but some debris survived because they were far enough away to not be affected by the gravitational pull for those planets. Finding the Kuiper Belt gave us more insight into the mystery of the objects located in the Kuiper belt. Most KBO’s are so far away that their measurements cannot be concretely calculated. By using the data collected by the Spitzer space Telescope most of the KBO’s have known sizes. In 2015 the New Horizon Spacecraft flew past Pluto for an up close exploration of the Kuiper Belt Objects. The primary real expectation of the Kuiper belt's presence, most planetary researchers now agree, originated from Uruguayan cosmologist Julio
A white dwarf forms only after the star has evolved from the main sequence and then passed through a red-giant stage. This occurred when Sirius B was less than half its current age, about 120 million years ago. Sirius B began its life as a blue star with 5 times the Sun's mass, say astronomers. It basically swelled into a red giant and shrank into a white dwarf.
Neptune was discovered through a discrepancy in Uranus’s orbit. Uranus’s orbit was not moving how astronomers predicted it would. They could not find an elliptical orbit that fit Uranus’s trajectory. They therefore assumed that there had to be another planet that’s gravitational pull was effecting Uranus. Johann Galle was the first to find Neptune in 1846, even though many before him had mathematically predicted where this new planet would be. The planet was named Neptune and two astronomers who had predicted mathematically where it would be are credited with finding it not Galle.
Trappist-1 is a white dwarf , having a mass equivalent to only 8% of the mass of our sun. A white dwarf surrounded by seven planets all rocky and of a size similar to the Earth. The discovery of such a system is a first for NASA, which used the Trappist telescope in Chile to study it and the Spitzer
Many issues have arisen from the debate whether or not Pluto is a planet. Some astronomers say that Pluto should be classified as a “minor planet” due to its size, physical characteristics, and other factors. On the other hand, some astronomers defend Pluto’s planet status, citing several key features.
In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto making it the ninth planet in the solar system. However, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union decided to change the definition of a planet because there were other planets that resembled Pluto. This decision was made at a meeting in the Czech Republic. A planet now must be round, orbit the sun, and as they travel, its gravity clears the solar system paths of waste floating around. Since Pluto is not able to clear the solar system of waste because of its small size, it would not be considered a planet. Because of the change in definition, experts would still argue on whether Pluto should still be considered a planet. There were many different variations of the definition for planet which could resulting in having twelve planets including Eres and Ceres. Another definition would be leaving it to its original definition of having nine planets. The last variation would make the solar system only contain eight planets. This disagreement about whether Pluto being a planet or not can be associated with language as a way of knowing. Because of the change in language, there is disagreement about whether the new definition of a planet should be
Pluto is usually farther from the Sun than any of the nine planets; however, due to the eccentricity of its orbit, it is closer than Neptune for 20 years out of its 249 year orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit January 21, 1979, made its closest approach September 5, 1989, and will remain within the orbit of Neptune until February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226.
Pluto was discovered on February 18, 1930. Its greater distance means its orbital period of 248 years is the longest of all planets. The plane of Pluto's orbit is also tilted the most compared to the rest, taking it further north and south of the Earth's orbital plane than the other planets. Pluto's only know satellite, Charon, is the largest satellite compared to the size of its mother planet. The Earth's moon held that title until Charon was discovered in 1978. Charon's large mass relative to Pluto means that the center of their common orbit about each other lies outside Pluto's surface, another unique characteristic of this Planet. The four inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are known as terrestrial planets for their smaller size,
The quest for classification of Pluto carried on as Neil deGrasse Tyson collaborated with various other leading figures who debated the validity of classifying Pluto as a planet. “The Pluto Files” documented Tyson’s trip across the country to meet with correspondents who both agreed in denouncing Pluto as a planet and those who quite strongly opposed. It all started in the planetary museum in which the model of the solar system did not include Pluto. Instead, it took a trip downstairs to find the model of the Kuiper Belt where Pluto is categorized and shown as a small dot amongst a sprinkling of others. This lack of Pluto caused an uproar of which Tyson was not expecting, and which he willingly chose to speak out against. His meeting with other
The history of the planet's discovery is the first we have of its kind; Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of the object are befitting of the odd planet. The earliest recorded sighting of Uranus was in 1690 by John Flamsteed, but the object was catalogued as another star. On March 13, 1781 Uranus was sighted again by amateur astronomer William Herschel and thought to be a comet or nebulous star. In 1784, Jean-Dominique Cassini, director of the Paris Observatory and prominent professional astronomer, made the following comment:
NASA told me that this planet is very cold. People may say that Pluto is colder than Antarctica. It is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. NASA told me that there was an 11 year old girl whose name was Vinita Burney. I learned from the space facts cite, that this planet was found around.. 3,10,1930. It also says is the largest dwarf planet but the 2nd massive, I do not understand that fact because if it was the largest how couldn’t it weigh the most. Pluto is -229 degrees Celsius but it is -380.2 ferinhight. WOWW THAT’S COLD!!!! pluto was discovered by a man by the name of Clyde Tombaugh. It is 33.3333 percent of water. I think it’s a cool fact that Pluto got its name by an 11 year old girl. Pluto weighs 13,050,000,000,000 billon kilograms.
Ceres, is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is approximately 587 miles in diameter, this also makes it the largest of the minor planets within the orbit of Neptune. This planet is composed of rock and ice; Ceres is estimated to take up at least one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. Its round shape is contributing to the weak interior and gravity. The magnitude of Ceres from Earth ranges from 6.7 to 9.3 explaining why it is too dim to see with the naked eye.
Pluto is located 7.5 billion kilometers from Earth and is only over 2,000 km in diameter. Pluto has been labeled both a planet and a dwarf planet over the years. As said by USA Today, “a planet is a celestial body that: is in orbit around the sun, is round or nearly round, and has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit, meaning it is not surrounded by objects of similar size and characteristics.” Pluto only follows two of the three rules of a planet. Pluto crosses over Neptune’s orbit and is near other dwarf planets like it. Even though it breaks one rule it was officially named a dwarf planet in “August 2006”, as stated by the Library of Congress. After this event Pluto still only has one correct classification. Pluto is a planet because