This artist's concept, released by NASA, shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 (nicknamed "Xena") which received an official name -- Eris -- on Wednesday. Associated Press photo by NASA
Posted on 09/13/2006 7:57:54 PM PDT by TFFKAMM
A distant, icy rock whose discovery shook up the solar system and led to Pluto's planetary demise has been given a name: Eris.
The christening of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of chaos and strife, was announced by the International Astronomical Union on Wednesday. Weeks earlier, the professional astronomers' group stripped Pluto of its planethood under new controversial guidelines.
Since its discovery last year, Eris, which had been known as 2003 UB313, ignited a debate about what constitutes a planet.
Astronomers were split over how to classify the object because there was no universal definition. Some argued it should be welcomed as the 10th planet since it was larger than Pluto, but others felt Pluto was not a full-fledged planet.
After much bickering, astronomers last month voted to shrink the solar system to eight planets, downgrading Pluto to a "dwarf planet," a category that also includes Eris and the asteroid Ceres.
Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too perfect to resist."
In mythology, Eris caused a quarrel among goddesses that sparked the Trojan War. In real life, Eris forced scientists to define a planet that eventually led to Pluto getting the boot. Soon after Pluto's dismissal from the planet club, hundreds of scientists circulated a petition protesting the decision.
Eris' moon also received a formal name: Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris known as the spirit of lawlessness.
Eris, which measures about 70 miles wider than Pluto, is the farthest known object in the solar system at 9 billion miles away from sun. It is also the third brightest object located in the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy debris beyond the orbit of Neptune...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This artist's concept, released by NASA, shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 (nicknamed "Xena") which received an official name -- Eris -- on Wednesday. Associated Press photo by NASA
Seems a fitting choice of names just for the havoc wreaked upon classrooms by Pluto's demotion let alone for the chaos of our antinomian age.
Planetary Ping
And just where is the line between the largest dwarf planet and the smallest regular planet? Why do I feel like this is the freak show in a carnival? "See the worlds tallest midget!"
(Pluto was robbed, dammit!) ;-)
They re-named your planet!
I thought Eris always hung out with Aries--aka Mars.
She's left him, then?
Ping
Well, since Pluto *is* the smallest regular planet... :-) Or at least it always will be to me.
Strife, OK. But Chaos is what precedes Erebus, Night, and then Day. Hesiod says, "first Chaos came to be."
Too bad. They should have given it a name that kids could have had fun with, like they (we) do with "Uranus". Coulda named it "Klingon" to give that old joke a little boost.
Is this like "home of the world's smallest big-screen TV?"
Has anyone let Mickey know that Pluto is now a Dwarf? I hear Doc and Sleepy are OK with it but Happy is now Grumpy about it. This is getting down right Goofy if you ask me.
Eris threw the golden apple into a party (at which She had not been invited!) The apple said "For the Fairest!". Juno, Minerva and Venus all claimed it. Jupiter refused to arbite (being wise) but a young man, Paris agreed to be their judge. Each offered him appropriate bribes, but what won his heart was the promise of Venus to give him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife.
That was Helen, sister to Castor and Pollux, who all the kings of Greece had agreed to defend. Hers was the face that launched a thousand ships.
From that comes a measure of beauty. A millihelen is beauty enough to launch one ship....
This "planet" should be the permanent home of the Democratic National Convention. The 'toon can hold court in the red light district on its "moon."
"In mythology, Eris caused a quarrel among goddesses that sparked the Trojan War. In real life, Eris forced scientists to define a planet that eventually led to Pluto getting the boot. Soon after Pluto's dismissal from the planet club, hundreds of scientists circulated a petition protesting the decision."
doesn't klingon circle uranus?
Nicely done :)
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