Dwarf Planets
By: Ilona F.
General Information
What they are made out of and what they are: Dwarf planets are celestial bodies that orbit the sun. four of them are made out of rock,ice,and snow, but scientists think that Makemake (MAKE-ee-MAKE-ee) is made out of gases such as frozen methane, ethane, and possibly even nitrogen.
Where they are located: Four are located in the Kuiper belt and Ceres is located in the asteroid belt.
Shape: Four of the planets are spherical, but Haumea is egg shaped. This is because the tiny planet is spinning so quickly, it is bulging at two sides, making it thin in the middle. That is why it is egg shaped.
Orbit: All of the dwarf planets have their own orbit. Eris's orbit interferes with Pluto and Neptune's orbit, because it's orbit is so wide at one part.
All of the dwarf planets: The six known dwarf planets in our solar system are Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, Eris, and the unofficial V774104.
Pluto's Physical Appearence
Pluto appears as a ball of distant ice. It is brownish grey and circular. It (like all of the dwarf planets) is smaller than the Earth's moon. New Horizons reveals that Pluto indeed does have ice- which means if it were closer to the sun, it would have water. Many craters penetrate it's icy surface and it is slightly reddish.
Ceres and Makemake Size Comparison
Ceres is much smaller than all of the other dwarf planets and is the only one in the asteroid belt. It is about the size of Texas. Makemake is slightly smaller than Pluto. (Picture) The smallest ball in the middle of the picture represents Ceres.
Eris Interesting Facts
Eris has a very large egg shaped orbit that intersects with Neptune and Pluto's orbits around the sun. It takes more than 550 years for Ers to make a complete circle around the sun because it's orbit is so irregular. It also has a tiny moon called Dysnomia. It was discovered by pictures taken in 2003. It's orbit is so wide, at some points it is outside of the Kuiper belt.