Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in documenting its discovery.
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. 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. 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.
Watch: Eris, The Forgotten Planet
From the Insane Curiosity channel.
Sources and further reading: Wikipedia — Eris (dwarf planet) (CC BY-SA). Images: Wikimedia Commons.
