It was a burning question of mine for a while now:

I understand that dwarf planets like Pluto and Ceres aren’t considered planets of the solar system, but why are they called ‘dwarf PLANETS’ if they aren’t planets.

And no one really says, “the sun isn’t a star, it’s a Dwarf Star”. Nor is it declassified as one because of it.

So, why are dwarf planets not planets, but dwarf stars are stars?

  • Rhaedas
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    fedilink
    63 hours ago

    Not only isn’t the Sun really a dwarf compared to many smaller stars, it’s also not yellow. These are just holdovers from early astronomy where things were classified before a lot of knowledge wasn’t known. Which is also the case with Pluto.

      • @tuck182
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        120 minutes ago

        Turns out Kal-El was raised by the Kents; he just never developed powers because ours isn’t a true yellow sun.