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"A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it
by kbelder 5y ago
"A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite."
According the the wrong-headed AIU definition. So, yes, _Jupiter_ could be a dwarf planet, if it hasn't cleared it's orbital neighborhood for some reason.
- robocat 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_the_neighbourhood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearing_the_neighbourhood Weird definition since it prevents deciding if an exoplanet is a planet or a dwarf planet. It smells like a compromise proxy measure for: orbital stability, in a reasonably circular orbit, plus rule out Pluto. Maybe there is some deep reason for using that measure, but it is not obvious.
- bnralt 5y agoAs far as I can tell, many planetary scientists aren't particularly fond of the definition either. I believe the initial plan that the IAU had after the discovery of Eris was to classify dwarf planets as planets, but some of the members didn't like the idea that our solar system would suddenly get a lot more planets, so pushed for the current awkward and ill-defined IAU definition. Though there are a lot of people that present the IAU definition as if it were simply the will of "science," if you look at the 2006 debate about it amongst scientists, it was actually fairly contentious.