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> is estimated that there may be 200 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt of the outer Solar System[1][needs update] and possibly more than 10,000 in the region bey
by 1ris 10y ago
> is estimated that there may be 200 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt of the outer Solar System[1][needs update] and possibly more than 10,000 in the region beyond.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_possible_dwarf_planets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_possible_dwarf_planets
- qb45 10y agoYou have every right to claim that IAU is slow in recognizing newly discovered dwarf planets, especially if they actually are, but please support this with some list of objects verified to satisfy DP definition and not yet recognized by IAU. What you gave is some Wikipedia list of objects "most likely to be dwarf planets" and some estimate of the number of undiscovered dwarf planets, which has nothing to do with IAU liking or not liking these objects. Furthermore, from "dwarf planet" on Wiki: only two of these bodies, Ceres and Pluto, have been observed in enough detail to demonstrate that they actually fit the IAU's definition. Though if one reads further, The IAU accepted Eris as a dwarf planet because it is more massive than Pluto. They subsequently decided that unnamed trans-Neptunian objects with an absolute magnitude brighter than +1 (and hence a diameter of ≥838 km assuming a geometric albedo of ≤1) are to be named under the assumption that they are dwarf planets. so maybe you are right about IAU and their list of dwarf planets being a mess.
- SamBam 10y agoIt seems pretty reasonable. Basically, barring further evidence, all the evidence points to Eris as being a dwarf planet, because objects larger than Pluto almost certainly meet the other criteria. The IAU is allowing other object to be listed as dwarf planets if it's a very strong likelihood that they are, without having to send a probe to each one.