Astronomy: Eris

Eris

Eris (minor-planet designation: 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit.

Commentary

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

Eris Eris (minor-planet designation: 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory–based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year.

Commentary

Source: Internal

Why Eris matters: Understanding our cosmic neighbourhood helps us learn about planetary formation, the conditions for life, and ultimately our place in the universe. It was named in September 2006 after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive in the Solar System (counting moons). It is also the largest known object in the Solar System that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometres (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Both Eris and Pluto have a surface area that is comparable to that of Russia or South America. Eris has one large known moon, Dysnomia. In February 2016, Eris's distance from the Sun was 96.3 AU (14.41 billion km; 8.95 billion mi), more than three times that of Neptune or Pluto. With the exception of long-period comets, Eris and Dysnomia were the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System until the discovery of 2018 AG37 and 2018 VG18 in 2018. Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System's tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the IAU definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris, Pluto and Ceres are "dwarf planets", reducing the number of known planets in the Solar System to eight, the same as before Pluto's discovery in 1930. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that it was slightly smaller than Pluto, which was measured by New Horizons as having a mean diameter of 2,377 ± 4 kilometres (1,477 ± 2 mi) in July 2015.

Commentary

Source: Internal

Deep dive: Eris Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive in the Solar System (counting moons). It is also the largest known object in the Solar System that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometres (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Both Eris and Pluto have a surface area that is comparable to that of Russia or South America. Eris has one large known moon, Dysnomia. In February 2016, Eris's distance from the Sun was 96.3 AU (14.41 billion km; 8.95 billion mi), more than three times that of Neptune or Pluto. With the exception of long-period comets, Eris and Dysnomia were the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System until the discovery of 2018 AG37 and 2018 VG18 in 2018. Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System's tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the IAU definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris, Pluto and Ceres are "dwarf planets", reducing the number of known planets in the Solar System to eight, the same as before Pluto's discovery in 1930. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that it was slightly smaller than Pluto, which was measured by New Horizons as having a mean diameter of 2,377 ± 4 kilometres (1,477 ± 2 mi) in July 2015. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)