Chapter 23: Uranus, Neptune, and the Kuiper Belt

ovoids

Geological feature on Uranus’s moon Miranda thought to be produced by circulation in the solid icy mantle and crust.

occultation

The passage of a larger body in front of a smaller body.

dwarf planets

objects that orbit the Sun and are large enough to assume a spherical shape but not large enough to have sufficient gravitational influence to absorb or otherwise clear away remaining objects orbiting nearby

plutinos

One of the icy Kuiper Belt objects that, like Pluto, are caught in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune.