Hygiea – A Possible New Dwarf Planet

In News

IT is not yet official but a new dwarf planet has been found in our solar system. It is tentatively named ‘Hygiea’.

In-Detail

• So far, five dwarf planets have been officially recognized as part of our solar system.
• Famous among them is Pluto which had been downgraded from the status of a planet.
• The other four are:
  • Eris
  • Makemake
  • Haumea
  • Ceres
• Now, Hygiea is the new claimant to the dwarf planet status.

Hygiea

• Located between Mars and Juputer, Hygiea is so far considered as an asteroid.
• The new dwarf planet was found by astronomers using the SPHERE instrument of the European Space Agency at Very Large Telescope (VLT).
• If Hygiea qualifies for the dwarf planet status of the International Astronomical Union, it will become the smallest dwarf planet.
• IAU has set four criteria for a dwarf planet:
  • It must orbit around the Sun
  • It is not a moon to any object
  • It has not cleared the neighbourhood around the orbit
  • It has enough mass that its own gravity pulls it into a spherical shape
• Hygiea already satisfies the first three criteria.
• With VLT observations, the fourth requirement has also been confirmed by the astronomers.

VLT

• Very Large Telescope (VLT) is the world’s most advanced visible-light telescope.
• It is totally operated by the European Space Agency.
• VLT is located in the Atacama desert.
• There are four individual telescopes.
• Each telescope has a primary mirror of 8.2 across.