Our solar system does not only consist of the sun, planets and their moons. It also has a lot of other objects which are neither plants nor moons. These objects in our solar system that are neither planets, dwarf planets nor natural satellites ( moon ) are called small Solar System Objects ( SSSB ).
" All other objects, except satellites, orbiting the sun shall be referred to collectively as Small Solar System Bodies " International Astronomical Union ( IAU ).
Small bodies in our solar system include icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt, Asteroids, comets, small planetary moons and Oort cloud.
It also includes triton, Pluto, Charon and interplanetary dust. But the questions is how did scientist classify these objects and on which basis they give name to these bodies ?
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Why Do Scientists Classify Solar System Bodies ?
It is very difficult to study a large system with a lot of different objects without dividing them into different groups and giving them names.
Classification of objects in our solar system enables us to study them more efficiently.
Scientists classify Different objects in our solar system on the basis of their physical properties. Like shape, size, temperature and composition. Small Objects in our solar system are also classified on the basis of following properties. A typical Example is Pluto which was not considered as a Planet because it did not meet the criteria that IAS uses to define a Planet.