Dwarf Planets : Pluto
Pluto is composed of ice and rock . In 2006 , astronomers decided that Pluto should no longer be classed as a planet but only a dwarf planet , although it is spherical . Due to its low mass , it cannot attract smaller boulders in its vicinity , as the ‘ real ’ planets do . Pluto has one larger and two smaller moons .
Ceres , is the largesr object in the asteroid belt and is the largest object in the asteroid belt between mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system It was called an as teroid for many years but it is so much bigger and so different from the other asteroids it was classed as a dwarf planet in 2006 . Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of harvests and the word cereal comes from the same name
Haumea is one of the fastest rotating objects in the solar system .
Oddly shaped Haumea complete a turn on its axis every four hours . The quick spin elongated the dwarf planet into the unique shape astronomers discovered in 2003 . It is roughly the same size as Pluto and orbits the sun in the Kuiper belt an icy zone of objects beyond the orbit of Neptune . It takes Haumea 285 earth years to orbit the sun . It has two moons Hi ’ aka and Namaka
Makemake
Is located in the Kuiper belt , it is slightly smaller than Pluto and takes 310 years to orbit the sun . There are signs of frozen nitrogen on Makemakes surface and astronomers have found signs of methane and ethane which may be present in pellets as large as one centimetre diameter . Evidence of tholins , molecules that form when solar UV light interacts with substances like ethaneto cause a reddish brown colour .
Eris It takes Eris 557 years to complete a single orbit around our sun . The plane of Eris ’ orbit is well out of the plane of solar system ’ s planets and extends far beyond the Kuiper Bel t , All the asteroids in the asteroid belt would fit inside Eris , but it is still smaller than our moon