Eris |
Interpretation of Eris - SISV |
Eris Eris is named for the ancient Greek goddess of discord and strife. It takes icy Eris 557 Earth years to complete a single orbit around our sun. The plane of Eris' orbit is well out of the plane of the solar system's planets and extends far beyond the Kuiper Belt, a zone of icy debris beyond the orbit of Neptune. The dwarf planet is often so far from the sun that its atmosphere collapses and freezes on the surface in an icy glaze. The coating gleams brightly, reflecting as much sunlight as freshly fallen snow. Scientists believe surface temperatures to vary from about -359 degrees Fahrenheit (-217 degrees Celsius) to -405 degrees Fahrenheit (-243 degrees Celsius). The thin atmosphere will thaw in hundreds of years as Eris gets closer to the sun, revealing a rocky surface scientists believe is similar to Pluto. Eris was first spotted in 2003 during a Palomar Observatory survey of the outer solar system by Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology; Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory; and David Rabinowitz of Yale University. The discovery was confirmed in January 2005, and was submitted as a possible 10th planet of our solar system since it was the first object in the Kuiper Belt found to be bigger than Pluto. Originally designated 2003 UB313 (and nicknamed for the television warrior Xena by its discovery team), Eris is named for the ancient Greek goddess of discord and strife. The name fits since Eris remains at the center of a scientific debate about the definition of a planet. Eris' moon, Dysnomia, is named after Eris' daughter who is the demon goddess of lawlessness.
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Eris as seen by Hubble Space Telescope
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Information came from: NASA, Wikipedia and David Darling’s encyclopedia. |
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