Current Issue about the Solar System

By the end of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly on 24 August 2006 at Prague,the IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies,except satellites,in our solar system be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

1.A planet is a celestial body that:

a) is in orbit is round the Sun,

b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape,and

c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit

The eight "planets" are Mercury,Venus,

Earth,Mars,Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus and Neptune.

2. A "dwarf" planet is a celestial body that:

   

a) is in orbit around the Sun

b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to        overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hdyrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape.

c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

d) is not a satellite

Solar system objects now classified as dwarf planets are,Ceres,Pluto,Eris,Makemake an Haumea.

3. "small solar system Bodles" referrd all other objects (solar system asteroids,most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOa),comets,and other small bodies axcept satellites orbiting the sun.