Is Sedna a Dwarf Planet or Planetoid?
The classification of ‘planet’ is still under debate, though its discoverers still maintain it to be a ‘planetoid’. The main question is that if Sedna is called a dwarf planet, then should other bodies, such as Quaoar also be considered thus? Indeed, what classifications are necessary to scientifically define an object as a ‘planet’? The California Institute of Technology has issued an article that argues that a planet should be defined by its gravitational rounding. In other words:Any object which is round due to its own gravitational pull and which directly orbits the Sun is called a planet. –California Institute of Technology From this definition the word ‘planetoid’ has been coined, which neatly describes all of the accepted eight planets in the Solar System, as well as some other large bodies in the Solar System, such as Quaoar, and the asteroid Ceres, which was originally called a planet at the time of its discovery. However, the ‘Population Classification’ theory states that pla
