Can you name the five dwarf planets in our solar system?

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Dwarf Planets Quiz

by GeoExpert

Created May 27, 2009 in Science
Featured May 27, 2009
Game Plays 30,372

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	PhysicsCrabbe:	May 27th, 2009 at 18:42 GMT	10 points
	How did I get an astronomy degree without having heard of some of these! Back to school for me!

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 18:46 GMT	7 points
	Milestone. This is my first quiz! For any of you that ask, Pluto is a dwarf planet

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 18:47 GMT	2 points
	@Damian: Because all of these are recent. Haumea and Makemake became dwarves last year. There are also at least a dozen bodies that are considered candidates

	Pat Lisner:	May 27th, 2009 at 18:47 GMT	6 points
	Nice quiz GeoExpert. Poor Pluto. It used to be a contender.

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	juvanya:	May 27th, 2009 at 18:59 GMT	3 points
	Figures I miss the non-greco-roman ones @jbear31: you don't yet, but you can suggest them. look at the FAQs

	juvanya:	May 27th, 2009 at 19:01 GMT	7 points
	Pluto never was a planet. I recognized that years ago. It was just pulled out of the Kuiper belt and noted for 75 years, so people were used to it being incorrectly called a planet.

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 19:02 GMT	1 point
	@juvanya: Haumea is a Hawaiin name and Makemake is the Polynesian creation god. I guess NASA wanted to get more creative

	Tahnan:	May 27th, 2009 at 19:09 GMT	16 points
	Happy, Sleepy, Dopey--wait, wrong quiz.

	davidr:	May 27th, 2009 at 19:11 GMT	10 points
	@GeoExpert: They're named by the International Astronomical Union, not NASA.

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 19:37 GMT	4 points
	@davidr: Sorry I just bloopered there. If they were named by NASA, each country would have a different name for each celestial body. For example, the ESA would name them for Europe if that was.

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	stl100:	May 27th, 2009 at 21:26 GMT	7 points
	Gah! I spent ages convinced I had spelt "Quaoar" wrong, which is understandable I feel. And it's not even there!

	Skydog:	May 27th, 2009 at 21:28 GMT	5 points
	Good suggestion Geo, only got 3 though.

	nhrafan:	May 27th, 2009 at 21:37 GMT	4 points
	so if pluto is now a dwarf planet, then what status does charon have?

	Biohazard:	May 27th, 2009 at 21:37 GMT	0 points
	@GeoExpert: Speaking of having quizzes published, did you just submit the information for this quiz through the "feedback" link?

	Biohazard:	May 27th, 2009 at 21:38 GMT	6 points
	@nhrafan: Moon of the dwarf planet Pluto, I'd guess.

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 22:02 GMT	1 point
	@stl100: Quaoar is actually one of the candidates to be a dwarf planet, but it isn't one. But it might be tomorrow...

	GeoExpert:	May 27th, 2009 at 22:03 GMT	1 point
	@nhrafan: Charon is the moon of Pluto. Eris has a moon as well, Dysmonia

	iceman1731:	May 27th, 2009 at 22:56 GMT	-1 points
	Pluto will always be planet to me

	bballstar:	May 27th, 2009 at 23:05 GMT	7 points
	Pluto is a dwarf among midgets.

	bigsoxfan:	May 27th, 2009 at 23:26 GMT	-1 points
	3/5 on the first try...not too bad!

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	CarmineClash:	May 28th, 2009 at 06:50 GMT	3 points
	Pluto is correctly on here. It should never have been categorized with the "true" planets. Tragic, a whole generation will hopelessly cling to their false education rather than adapt to new knowledge.

	lulubelles:	May 28th, 2009 at 10:39 GMT	15 points
	My daughter aged 6 is still being taught in school there are 9 planets. I was not pleased, what is the point in 'educating' children if your information is wrong?

	davidr:	May 28th, 2009 at 16:29 GMT	7 points
	@lulubelles: Facts go out of date all the time. It's surely more important that children learn to think critically than that they keep up with the IAU's decisions about how many planets there are this year.

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	GeoExpert:	May 28th, 2009 at 18:36 GMT	3 points
	@MattJ: Nope, none of the moons are on that list. A quiz about possible dwarf planets is a pretty good idea.

	mjenks:	May 28th, 2009 at 20:41 GMT	2 points
	Thanks for the clarification. I just remembered when I read the article back when Pluto was deplanetized that there were still questions about large moons in the solar system, like our moon, Io, Ganymede and the like.

	redsimba88:	May 28th, 2009 at 22:24 GMT	9 points
	"Makemake" is such a cool name!

	Robyn:	May 29th, 2009 at 02:12 GMT	0 points
	@davidr: I think it's pretty important for kids to be given the most recent facts available. But I'm confused why a 6 year old is learning the planets in the first place. Shouldn't they be learning about senses and animals and stuff like that? The solar system's a pretty complicated thing to teach...

	mjenks:	May 29th, 2009 at 15:03 GMT	9 points
	Why shouldn't they learn about the solar system? My four-year-old learned about the solar system this year in pre-K, and wants books about the stars and planets for his birthday. He even asks to go out and look through the telescope with me. And, I'm not sure how the solar system is more complicated to learn about than the senses.

	GeoExpert:	May 31st, 2009 at 01:30 GMT	2 points
	I agree with MattJ. It is good for children to obtain interests at a young age. I doubt that they are going into detail, though. But it is good that in kindergarten that they are being taught math and science. Most kids should know the alphabet when they enter kindergarten. The solar system can be pretty simple if you just teach what the planets are and which ones are rocky and which ones are gaseous, and the asteroid belt and sun

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	onetheta:	May 31st, 2009 at 10:17 GMT	-1 points
	When do American kids get taught to spell?

	misa_chan:	Jun 2nd, 2009 at 09:11 GMT	-1 points
	Darn, I missed 2...

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	White:	Jun 19th, 2009 at 22:21 GMT	0 points
	Plu-to! Plu-to! ...is the only one I got. And makemake?!

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