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Found 29 results for dwarf planet

Our solar system could be hiding an extra planet the size of Uranus

27 June 2023

Many planets are thought to be flung away from their stars, but it’s possible that some get trapped on the way out – and one could be lurking at the edge of our own solar system


inventory of the universe

Your essential guide to the many breathtaking wonders of the universe

22 April 2023

An abridged inventory of everything there is in the universe – from rogue planets and exomoons to supernovae, supermassive black holes and the cosmic web.


Visualisation of the dwarf planet Quaoar

Dwarf planet Quaoar has a weirdly big ring of debris encircling it

8 February 2023

Quaoar, a dwarf planet in our solar system, has a ring of debris orbiting it that is far further out than we thought the laws of physics allow


The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b

‘Forbidden’ planet somehow escaped consumption by its dying host star

26 January 2023

The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b should have been destroyed when its star became a red giant, but it continues to orbit strangely close to it


Dwarf planet Ceres is shown in these false-color renderings, which highlight differences in surface materials.

Now is the perfect time to see dwarf planet Ceres for yourself

24 November 2021

The only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, Ceres will be at its closest to Earth for a week from the end of November. Catch it while you can, says Abigail Beall


Pluto is covered in huge red patches and we don't know what they are

Pluto is covered in huge red patches and we don't know what they are

21 June 2021

Huge swathes of Pluto’s surface are covered in a mysterious red material, and planetary scientists’ best guess for what it could be doesn’t seem to match up to data from the New Horizons probe


Vast worlds called brown dwarfs have extraordinarily powerful winds

Vast worlds called brown dwarfs have extraordinarily powerful winds

9 April 2020

Brown dwarfs, which are halfway between huge planets and small stars, have extremely powerful winds whipping around them at speeds of about 650 metres per second


Pluto formed quickly with a deep ocean covering its entire surface

Pluto formed quickly with a deep ocean covering its entire surface

30 March 2020

Pluto’s ancient oceans may have come about just after the icy world was born, melting from ice in a process that suggests the dwarf planet took just 30,000 years to form


Pluto's icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards

Pluto's icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards

5 February 2020

Every day on Pluto, nitrogen puffs out the icy world’s heart-shaped plain into the atmosphere, and every night it refreezes, creating winds unlike any we’ve seen before


SPHERE image of Hygiea

Surprisingly round asteroid may actually be the smallest dwarf planet

28 October 2019

The best ever image of the asteroid Hygiea has revealed its shape for the first time and it looks as if it is round enough to be a tiny dwarf planet like Pluto


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