Post on 31-Dec-2015
transcript
Dwarf Planets
Ian MorrisAstronomy 1040
What is a Dwarf Planet?
In order to be considered a Dwarf Planet certain criteria must be met.
What is a Dwarf Planet?
• It is an object in orbit around the Sun.
What is a Dwarf Planet?
• It has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a
hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape.
What is a Dwarf Planet?
• It has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
• It Is not a satellite of a Planet.
The Dwarf Planets• Eris• Pluto•Makemake• Haumea • Ceres
Eris• Discovered
January 5, 2005 by Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz.
Eris• Largest
Dwarf Planet. It is 23% of Earths Moon.• Has one
Moon:• Dysnomia
Eris• Orbits the
Sun every 560 years.• Orbital
Inclination is 44 degrees.
Pluto• Discovered
February 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh using Newtonian Mechanics.
Pluto• 2nd Largest of
the Dwarf Planets• 3 Moons:• Charon• Hydra• Nix
Pluto
• Mass is about 17% of Earths Moon.• Atmosphere is Methane and Carbon Dioxide.
Pluto
• Pluto Orbits the sun every 246 years.• Orbital inclination is 17 degrees.
Pluto
• Pluto Orbits around a point outside its central mass due to the mass of Charon. A Binary Planet.
• Pluto and Charon are tidally locked. The same face is always in the others sky.
Haumea• Discovered
December 28, 2004 by Mike Brown.• Has 2 moons:• Hiraka• Namaka
Haumea• The elliptical
shape is believed to be the result of a collision.• Its mass is
about 6% of Earths Moon
Haumea
• Orbits the Sun every 238 years.• Orbital Inclination is 28 degrees.
Makemake• Discovered
March 31, 2005 by Brown, Trujillo and Rabinowitz.
Makemake• Has no known
Moons.• The surface is
thought to be similar to Pluto's as both Methane and Nitrogen are present.
Makemake
• Orbits the sun every 309 years• Orbital inclination is 29 degrees.
Ceres• Discovered
January 1 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi• Lies in the
asteroid belt.• Is the only
Dwarf Planet outside the Kuiper Belt.
Ceres• Is composed
mostly of rock and water ice.• Up to 200
million cubic kilometers of water ice.• The crust is
100 km thick ice.
Ceres
• Orbital Period of 4.6 years• Orbital Inclination is about 10 degrees
Citations
• http://www.iau.org/• http
://web.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/2003EL61/• http://science.nationalgeographic.com/scienc
e/space/solar-system/dwarf-planet/