Exploring the Solar System's Dwarf Planets

When we think of a planetary system, we often picture giants like Jupiter or familiar worlds like Earth. However, the Solar System is also filled with smaller icy and rocky objects that carry clues about how it formed and evolved. Dwarf planets are the in-betweens: they’re large enough for their own gravity to pull them into a round shape, but not large enough that they dominate their orbital neighborhoods by clearing away other objects.