Small Solar System body

A small Solar System body (SSSB) is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a natural satellite. The term was first defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as follows: "All other objects, except satellites, orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as 'Small Solar System Bodies' ".[1]

"Macroscopic bodies" redirects here. For macroscopic, see macroscopic scale. For the difference between quantum and classical macroscopic bodies, see Quantum mechanics and Macroscopic quantum phenomena.
Euler diagram showing the types of bodies in the Solar System.

This encompasses all comets and all minor planets other than those that are dwarf planets. Thus SSSBs are: the comets; the classical asteroids, with the exception of the dwarf planet Ceres; the trojans; and the centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects, with the exception of the dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris and others that may turn out to be dwarf planets.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Small Solar System body, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.