DWARF PLANETS

DWARF PLANETS

WHAT ARE DWARF PLANETS MADE OF?

• 70% Rock
• 30% Water and ice
• Covered in nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide

HOW BIG IS A DWARF PLANET?

• Originally thought to be the size of earth
• Astronomers later realize it was a Small planetesimal.

WHERE ARE THEY FOUND?

• Dwarf planets orbit our sun
• Most are located in the Kuiper belt- region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune
• Pluto is 3.7 billion miles from the sun

WHAT MAKES A DWARF PLANET SPECIAL?

• They are too small to be named a planet
• Too big to be separated into categories

DWARF PLANETS

NAMES OF DWARF PLANETS

• Ceres
• Haumea
• Eris
• Makemake
• Pluto

CERES

• Largest in the asteroid belt
• Lies between the orbit of Mars and jupiter
• 950 kilometers in diameter
• Only dwarf planet in the inner solar system

HAUMEA

• Located beyond Neptune's orbit
• Discovered in 2004
• About 1/3 of Pluto's mass
• It is a ellipsoid

MAKEMAKE

• Largest in the Kuiper belt
• Diameter is 2/3 the size of Pluto
• Low average temperature
• Discovered in March 2005

ERIS

• Biggest dwarf planet
• 27% More massive than Pluto
• Directly orbits the sun
• Discovered in 2005

PLUTO

WHO DISCOVERED PLUTO? WHEN?

• Clyde W. Tombauah
• February 18th, 1930

WHY DON'T SCIENTISTS KNOW MUCH ABOUT PLUTO?

• Farthest from earth and the sun
• We haven't made it close enough to Pluto

WHY ISNT PLUTO A PLANET ANYMORE?

• It hasn't cleared the neighborhood of its orbit
• It has not become gravitationally dominant

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE INSIST THAT PLUTO IS STILL A PLANET?

• Even though Pluto doesn't fit third rule, still follows first and second rules that determine what is/isn't a planet.

WHAT IS ODD ABOUT PLUTOS ORBIT?

• It take 248 earth years to orbit the sun
• It's orbit is more elliptical

HOW MANY MOONS DOEs PLUTO HAVE?

• 5 moons
• No rings

FUN FACTS!

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THANKS FOR LISTENING!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• T.space.com
• NASA.gov
• airandspace.si.edu
• Wikipedia.org