planemo

noun
/ˈplæ.nə.moʊ/

Etymology

Contraction of planetary-mass object. Coined by Gibor Basri, Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, (UCB) at the 2003 IAU conference.

Definitions

  1. an astronomical object with enough mass to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, but not…

    an astronomical object with enough mass to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium, but not enough to initiate core fusion at any time in its existence. That is, it is rounded in shape and is smaller than a star. Planemos include planets, dwarf planets, and the larger moons of the Solar System (satellite planets), but also sub-brown dwarfs and rogue planets between the stars.

    • Other groups have also recently identified young, isolated planemos; understanding how such isolated, ultra-low masses form presents a challenge.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for planemo. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA