Monday, September 18, 2006

UB313 named

via Foxnews.

Meant to comment on this last week, but astronomical object UB313, located in the deep reaches of the solar system's Kuiper belt, finally gets a name: Eris, for the Greek goddess of discord. It had been nicknamed "Xena" by discoverer Mike Brown of Caltech. It is defined as a "dwarf" planetary body.

Eris was responsible for much of the controversy surrounding the recent planetary definition debated by the International Astronomical Union, as it is slightly larger than now-demoted to "dwarf" planet Pluto. Eris, like Pluto, also has a satellite, now christened Dysnomia, which was Eris daughter and the spirit of lawlessness. Asteroid Ceres is also defined as a "dwarf" planet.

In Greek mythology, Eris is best known for causing the Trojan War.

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