DWARFPLANET

Dwarf planet

A dwarf planet is a planetary-mass object that is neither a planet nor a satellite. More explicitly, the International Astronomical Union defines a dwarf planet as a celestial body in direct orbit of the Sun that is massive enough for its shape to be controlled by gravitation, but that unlike a planet has not cleared its orbital region of other objects.

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dwarf planet

Noun

  1. Any astronomical body which has achieved hydrostatic equilibrium (which is the shape a body of water would take, as opposed to a small Solar System body), orbits the Sun (as opposed to a moon), and has not "cleared its neighbourhood" of competing bodies (as opposed to a planet).


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: dwarf planet
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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