dwarf planet
nounDefinition of dwarf planet
: a celestial body that orbits the sun and has a spherical shape but is not large enough to disturb other objects from its orbit
Examples of dwarf planet in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Pluto had been demoted to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. — Kitty Leshay, courant.com, "Traveling Lantern Actors Educate, Entertain," 26 July 2019 The last time there was a similar situation, poor Pluto somehow got demoted to a dwarf planet, leading to public outcry, said Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff, a star-naming committee member. — Seth Borenstein, The Seattle Times, "Picture was clear, but black hole’s name a little fuzzy," 15 Apr. 2019 Beaver Street Brewery The Southside Flagstaff restaurant is offering the Pluto Pizza, a nod to hometown Lowell Observatory’s role in the discovery of the dwarf planet. — Weldon B. Johnson, azcentral, "Celebrate Arizona's role in the Apollo moon landing with anniversary-themed food, drinks and souvenirs," 1 July 2019 In recent years, a number of small worlds in the outer solar system such as Eris, Sedna, and Makemake have joined Pluto in dwarf planet category. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Here's What We Know About Planet Nine," 9 Mar. 2019 In addition to sampling our galactic environment, such a probe could examine how the sun interacts with the interstellar medium, study the structure of dust in the solar system and perhaps visit a distant dwarf planet along the way. — Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, "These New Technologies Could Make Interstellar Travel Real," 13 Mar. 2019 Instead, researchers propose Triton started as a binary system—similar to the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. — National Geographic, "Neptune, explained," 28 Mar. 2019 Our solar system is in constant motion, with all eight planets — and dwarf planet Pluto — orbiting the sun. — Mindy Weisberger, Fox News, "Why Mars appears to be moving backward," 16 July 2018 Then came the 2000s fight over Pluto's planethood, which resulted in the small, cold, distant planet being reclassified as a dwarf planet. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Here's What We Know About Planet Nine," 9 Mar. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dwarf planet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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