PASADENA, Calif.–The International Astronomical Union (IAU) today downgraded the status of Pluto to that of a “dwarf planet,” a designation that will also be applied to the spherical body discovered ...

The dwarf planet Vesta is helping scientists better understand the earliest era in the formation of our solar system. Two recent papers involving scientists from the University of California, Davis, ...

Scientists have found evidence of a previously-undetected dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system. The object, dubbed 2017 OF201, follows an extreme, oblong orbit, taking some 25,000 Earth years ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Scientists have identified an object about 435 miles (700 km) wide inhabiting the frigid outer reaches of our solar system that might qualify as a dwarf planet, spotting it as it ...

Pluto hasn't been a planet for almost 20 years. In the early 2000s, scientists discovered several objects of a similar size to Pluto. So, during the summer of 2006, members of the International ...

A team of astronomers believe they may have discovered a new dwarf planet—just like Pluto—on the edge of our solar system. The object—which orbits out beyond Neptune—has been named "2017 OF201" by the ...

An artist's conception of the view from the dwarf planet Sedna. David Gerdes of the University of Michigan says the surface of 2014 UZ224 would look much the same. Scientists in Michigan have found a ...

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 ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The discovery of dwarf planet 2017 OF201 hints at a 'population behind it with hundreds of ...