What Is A Dwarf Planet?

Like other planets, dwarf planets also orbit the Sun. They also have mass and gravity. They are smaller in size as compared to the other planets and they attract asteroids. Until now, there are only 5 dwarf planets which are recognized that are- Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Haumena and makemake but according to the scientists there could be hundreds of dwarf planet in our solar system.
What’s the deal with Pluto?
In order to be a planet, it needs to fulfil the three requirements- mass, gravity and it need to have "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit. Out of the three requirements, the third requirement which has cleared the neighborhood is the one which is not fulfilled by Pluto. In 2005, an object with more mass than Pluto was discovered beyond Pluto’s orbit.
Before 2006, Pluto was considered to be a planet. But it was demoted to dwarf after 76 years.
Where are they?
Dwarf planets can be found in the asteroids belt as far as 100 times earth’s distance from the Sun. The closes dwarf planet is Ceres, which also a large asteroid. All dwarf planets, outside of Neptune’s orbit are referred to as plutoids.
What are dwarf planets made of?
The composition of dwarf planets depends on the distance between them and the Sun. Ceres is made up of rocky, icy object, some liquid water. Objects which are far away like Pluto are also a mix of rock, ice but they lack water.
Dwarf planets need to be spherical, icy objects form more easily into spheres than rocky objects. Scientists can only make guesses on the basis of their education.
Why do we care about dwarf planet?
Dwarf planet can teach us a lot about how our solar system formed and how it works. Since, they are smaller, dwarf planets change less than planets, essentially freezing the conditions that existed during the earliest stages
What’s like on dwarf planet?
Things are different in the asteroid as compared to the outer edge of the Solar System. For mildest environment, Ceres would be the best one around -37 degrees Celsius. It has dusty, icy crust due to which scientist thinks that there can be a life. Meanwhile, Eris has the temperature as low as -405-degree Fahrenheit.
Pluto has an odd orbit that takes it far away from the sun on one side and much closer on the other.
Eris takes full 557 earth years to complete a trip.

By: Suvarna Gupta