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Things that are neither planets nor exclusively dwarf planets

Minor Planets

Minor planets have similar criteria dwarf planets, but they don't have to have names, and they don't need to be round. Before dwarf planets were a thing, minor planets were actually considered planets, and it's what we classified Pluto and Ceres as. Examples include:

  • Asteroids
  • Pluto

Satellites

A satellite is anything that in space that orbits a planet. Note that the sun is not a planet, meaning our planets are not satellites. Examples include:

  • our Moon
  • those satellies that we've been sending up there
  • all those other moons that other planets have

Astroids & Comets

Asteroids

Asteroids are rocks in space that orbit a star. They're actually considered minor planets, but aren't considered dwarf planets because they're not round enough. Asteroids also get their name from the Greek word for star-like.

Comets

Comets are objects in space that typically orbit the sun and let out a trail of gas behind them.

Trans-Neptunian Objects

Trans-Neptunian objects are objects that orbit our Sun, but that are further from it than Neptune. Examples include:

  • Orcus, a dwarf planet
  • Ceres
  • Some asteroids