In a new 60 second video, NASA scientists explain the features that make a celestial body characterize as a planet dwarf.
The video that was released by NASA it is not accidental, as it is not accidental timing. The US space agency has not decided to present this short animation for plaque.
Instead, the video was released yesterday as the NASA spacecraft named "New Horizons" [New horizons ] began to approach the planet Pluto.
Pluto is a tiny planet in our Solar System. Until 2006 it was considered a regular planet but after a re-evaluation by the International Astronomical Union Union registered as planet dwarf.
As explained in the NASA video below, this happened because Pluto was found not to have a "clean" orbit, ie it is not alone on the trajectory of its orbit.
Pluto shares his cosmic orbit with many other objects, including asteroids.
For this reason, it cannot be considered a planet but a dwarf planet since it meets the conditions for this category (it has enough mass and gravity so that it is spherical in shape, and has an orbit around the sun that it shares with other bodies. It is also not a satellite of another planet).
Together with the reappraisal of planets and the definition of dwarf planets, several other dwarf planets have recently been discovered in our solar system, such as Eris, or Dimitra (otherwise Ceres), Harrodas, Macemake and Khumeaia.
Also earlier this year, NASA's Dawn spacecraft reached such a celestial body as Demeter [Ceres], and successfully entered orbit.
Astronomers expect that with the next space exploration missions to begin in the coming years, they will be able to document more and more dwarf planets in our solar system.
Watch the video below:
