A minor planet is an astronomical object orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is not a planet nor an object that is exclusively a comet.
Minor planets encompass asteroids, dwarf planets, centaurs, and satellites of those objects. Dwarf planets are non-satellite minor planets which are in hydrostatic equilibrium, a trait that they share in common with planets. Asteroids are smaller objects that do not need to be in hydrostatic equilibrium that cannot clear their orbits of similarly sized objects. Centaurs are objects intermediate in size between asteroids and dwarf planets that typically pertain an unstable orbit and characteristics of asteroids and comets, some actually are considered very large comets.