PARIS, June 16 (UPI) -- The International Astronomical Union
said it has selected the term plutoid as a name for dwarf
planets such as Pluto. The action came nearly two years after
the IAU introduced the category of dwarf planets, demoting Pluto
from being categorized as a planet. The IAU, headquartered in
Paris, defines plutoids as being celestial bodies in orbit
around the sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that
have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid
body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium
(nearly-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the
neighborhood around their orbit. The two known and named
plutoids are Pluto and Eris. It is expected that more plutoids
will be named as new discoveries are made. The IAU has been
responsible for naming planetary bodies and their satellites
since the early 1900s. |Additional Science News Stories|