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ShareThe International Astronomical Union defines "planet" as a celestial body that, within the Solar System that is in orbit around the Sun; has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape; and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit; or within another system, it is in orbit around a star or stellar remnants; has a mass below the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium; and is above the minimum mass/size requirement for planetary status in the Solar System. Our solar system is thus considered to have eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Under a separate resolution, it is also considered to have three dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, and Eris.
There have been more than two hundred planets discovered orbiting other stars to date.
For more information about the topic Planet, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Gas giant — A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. Gas giants may have a rocky or metallic core—in ... > read more
Dysnomia (moon of Eris) — Dysnomia, is a moon of the dwarf planet Eris. The satellite is about 60 times fainter than Eris, and its diameter is estimated to be approximately ... > read more
Red giant — A red giant is a large non-main sequence star of stellar classification K or M; so-named because of the reddish appearance of the cooler giant stars. ... > read more
Definition of planet — The definition of "planet" has for some time been the subject of intense debate. Although the word dates back thousands of years, no officially ... > read more
Asteroid belt — The asteroid belt is a region of the solar system falling roughly between the planets Mars and Jupiter where the greatest concentration of asteroid ... > read more
Neptune's natural satellites — Neptune has 13 known moons. The largest by far is Triton, discovered by William Lassell just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself. It took a ... > read more
Brown dwarf — Brown dwarfs were originally called black dwarfs, a classification for dark substellar objects floating freely in space which were too low in mass to ... > read more
Ceres (dwarf planet) — Ceres, also designated 1 Ceres or (1) Ceres, is the smallest dwarf planet in the Solar System and the only one located in the main asteroid belt. ... > read more
Red supergiant star — Red supergiants are supergiant stars of spectral type K-M and a luminosity class of I. They are the largest stars in the universe in terms of ... > read moreRecommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
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