RM
Eris dwarf planet
Eris dwarf planet. Artwork of the dwarf planet Eris, formerly called 2003 UB313, and its moon Dysnomia. Eris was previosuly nicknamed Xena by its discoverers, and its moon was nicknamed Gabrielle. Eris is thought to be around 3000 kilometres across, which is far larger than Pluto. It takes 560 years to orbit the Sun. Eris is the largest known member of the Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy bodies, including Pluto, that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. The discovery was made from observations made in 2003 at the Palomar Observatory, USA, by Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz, and announced in July 2005. Dysnomia was observed in September 2005. The Milky Way is the bright band of stars in the background at right.
More
Top Categories