ERIS
- one of our solar system's largest known dwarf planets It's almost the same size as Pluto, but it's three times further away from the Sun.
- Eris was discovered on Jan. 5, 2005, using data collected 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 during a Palomar Observatory survey of the outer solar system on Oct. 21, 2003.
Significant Dates
- Jan 8, 2005 - Scientists have announced the discovery of a Pluto-sized world billions of kilometres beyond Neptune's orbit. After a fictional television character, they have given the miniature world the name Xena. The discovery has reignited the debate over what constitutes a planet.
- Sep 2005 - Scientists say that Xena has a little moon, which they have named Gabriella after Xena's companion from a TV show about a warrior princess.
- Aug 26, 2006 - The International Astronomical Union votes to modify the definition of a planet after months of debate about how to designate Eris. Pluto has been reclassified as a dwarf planet, bringing the total number of planets in the solar system down to eight. Dwarf planets Eris and Ceres are both categorized as dwarf planets.
- Sep 14, 2006 - The dwarf planet Xena will be renamed Eris after the Greek goddess of discord, according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Dysnomia, the demon goddess of lawlessness and Eris' daughter, is Eris' moon. This is appropriate given that the discovery of Eris resulted in Pluto's relegation from planet to dwarf planet, despite ongoing dispute in the scientific community and the general public.
YEARS: 557 Earth years
DAY: 25.9 hours
Dysnomia, Eris's tiny small moon. Dysnomia has a 16-day orbit that is approximately round. Eris' daughter, the demon goddess of lawlessness, is the inspiration for this moon's name.
Astronomers can compute the mass of the parent body using Dysnomia and other minor moons orbiting planets and dwarf planets. The degree to which Pluto and Eris are comparable is determined by dysnomia.
Planet Features
Eris, like Pluto, is expected to have a rocky surface. Surface temperatures are thought to range from -359 degrees Fahrenheit (-217 degrees Celsius) to -405 degrees Fahrenheit, according to scientists (-243 degrees Celsius).
The dwarf planet's atmosphere collapses and freezes when it is so far from the Sun that it falls to the surface as snow. The atmosphere defrosts as it approaches the Sun in its remote orbit.\
Haumea
- Originally designated 2003 EL61 (and nicknamed Santa by one discovery team)
- Pluto is about the same size as Haumea. It is one of our solar system's fastest rotating big objects. Haumea's shape is distorted by the fast spin, making it look like a football
- Two teams claim responsibility for discovering Haumea, citing observations from 2003 and 2004 as evidence. The discovery was made on March 7, 2003, at Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, according to the International Astronomical Union's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, but no official discoverer is given.
- 2005: Haumea's moons are discovered.
- 2008: Haumea is recognized as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union and named Haumea.
Haumea takes 285 Earth years to make one trip around the Sun. As Haumea orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 4 hours, making it one of the fastest rotating large objects in our solar system.
It is possible that a large object impacted Haumea billions of years ago and set off Haumea's spin and created its moons.
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