Other
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009rmxac..35..288t&link_type=abstract
XII Latin American IAU Regional Meeting (Eds. G. Magris, G. Bruzual, & L. Carigi) Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica (
Other
Scientific paper
The international Astronomical Union recently adopted in its XXVI General Assembly a definition of planets in the Solar System. Changing 76 years of tradition, our Solar System has 8 planets and an increasing number of a new category of bodies named ``dwarf planets''. According to the resolution: `A ``dwarf planet'' is a celestial body that has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape and has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit'. In a footnote, the resolution says: `An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either ``dwarf planet'' and other categories.' In order to contribute to the establishment of this classification procedure, we analyze the problem of the minimum mass required to become a ``dwarf planet'', either from the theoretical and the observational perspective. We propose a classification criteria based on the available information on the shape and size of asteroids and TNOs, principally the direct or indirect estimates of the diameter and the estimate of the shapes from the lightcurves. We compile the available observational data on large asteroids and TNOs. According to our classification scheme there is only one rocky ``dwarf planet'' and 12 icy ``dwarf planets'' among the already discovered objects.
Favre Sofía
Tancredi Gonzalo
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