When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of confirmed dwarf planets and their moons. From left to right: Pluto (with ...

But what, exactly, is a dwarf planet? And how many dwarf planets are there? A dwarf planet is a celestial body that is smaller than a planet but bigger than an asteroid or other small rock in the ...

Laura holds a Master's in Experimental Neuroscience and a Bachelor's in Biology from Imperial College London. Her areas of expertise include health, medicine, psychology, and neuroscience. In 2006, ...

The Sun is orbited by eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids, and around three trillion comets and icy bodies. Although not all objects of the solar system are as ...

Astronomer and Pluto mission leader S. Alan Stern explores how the field has transformed during his decades-long career.

Earth has a newly-discovered neighbor in the solar system. But the heavenly body – possibly a dwarf planet à la Pluto – isn't a frequent visitor. Located beyond Neptune, its extreme orbit ...

A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), ...

Scientists may have discovered a dwarf planet far beyond Neptune — an unearthing that may disprove a longstanding theory about the possibility of a giant ninth planet. The dwarf planet's existence ...

Using AI to comb through data gathered by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, scientists have conducted a detailed scan of the dwarf planet Ceres to map regions rich in organic molecules to determine whether ...