kääbusplaneedil

kääbusplaneedil is the Finnish word for dwarf planet. A dwarf planet is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, but has not cleared its neighboring region of other objects. It is also not a satellite of another planet. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) established this definition in 2006.

Currently, there are five officially recognized dwarf planets in our solar system: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. Ceres is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pluto, once considered the ninth planet, resides in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. Haumea, Makemake, and Eris are also found in the Kuiper Belt or the scattered disk.

The discovery of Eris in 2005, a celestial body larger than Pluto, prompted the IAU to create the dwarf planet category. This was necessary to define what constitutes a planet and to manage the growing number of large objects being discovered in the outer solar system. Dwarf planets share some characteristics with planets, such as being spherical and orbiting the Sun, but their inability to gravitationally dominate their orbital paths distinguishes them. Scientists continue to discover and study objects that may qualify as dwarf planets, expanding our understanding of the solar system.