![]() Dwarf planets were thus conceived of as a category of planet. The term dwarf planet was coined by planetary scientist Alan Stern as part of a three-way categorization of planetary-mass objects in the Solar System: classical planets, dwarf planets, and satellite planets. ![]() Some astronomers include many smaller bodies as well, but there is no consensus that these are likely to be dwarf planets. Only one, Sedna, has neither been visited nor has any known moons, making an accurate estimate of mass difficult. Mass and density in turn can be fit into geophysical models in an attempt to determine the nature of these worlds. Of these nine plus the tenth-largest candidate Salacia, two have been visited by spacecraft (Pluto and Ceres) and seven others have at least one known moon (Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, and Salacia), which allows their masses and thus an estimate of their densities to be determined. ![]() The interest of dwarf planets to planetary geologists is that they may be geologically active bodies, an expectation that was borne out in 2015 by the Dawn mission to Ceres and the New Horizons mission to Pluto.Īstronomers are in general agreement that at least the nine largest candidates are dwarf planets: Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, and Orcus. A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right.
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