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Contact: Lars Lindberg Christensen
lars@eso.org
49-893-200-6306
International Astronomical Union
Caption: The two known and named plutoids are Pluto and Eris. Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the Sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighbourhood around their orbit.
Credit: IAU, NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), the HST Pluto Companion Search Team and M. Brown.
Usage Restrictions: None
Related news release: Plutoid chosen as name for solar system objects like Pluto
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