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Astronomers name 'world of chaos'
The distant world whose discovery prompted leading astronomers to demote Pluto from the rank of "planet" has now been given its own official name.
Having caused so much consternation in the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the object has been called Eris, after the Greek goddess of discord.
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Originally posted by jensouth31
If you find anything more..post it.
Eris (officially designated 136199 Eris), is the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system. Previously designated 2003 UB313, it was initially nicknamed "Xena" by its discoverers. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO), orbiting the Sun in a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt, and accompanied by at least one moon, Dysnomia. Mike Brown, who led the Mount Palomar-based discovery team, announced in April 2006 that the Hubble Telescope has measured Eris' diameter to be 2400 km, slightly larger than Pluto.
Eris's size resulted in its discoverers and NASA labelling it the solar system's tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other similarly sized objects being discovered in the future, stimulated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term "planet" more precisely. Under a new definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris was designated a "dwarf planet". Brown has since stated his approval of the new "dwarf planet" label.
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Originally posted by Implosion
No doubt, this will please followers of Discordianism greatly.
Fnord.
[edit on 14/9/06 by Implosion]
Was it because of the argy-bargy with Pluto?
As Eris is larger than Pluto, it was initially described as the "tenth planet" by NASA and in media reports of its discovery. In response to the uncertainty over its status, and because of continuing debate over whether Pluto should be classified as a planet, the IAU delegated a group of astronomers to develop a new definition of the term planet. This definition was clarified under the new International Astronomical Union definition of a planet, adopted on 24 August 2006. Eris has been termed a dwarf planet by the IAU.
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Eris ("Strife") is the goddess personifying that quality, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia.
The most famous tale of Eris ("Strife") recounts her initiating the Trojan War. The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite had been invited along with the rest of Olympus to the forced wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles, but Eris had been snubbed because of her troublemaking inclinations.
She therefore (in a fragment from the Kypria as part of a plan hatched by Zeus and Themis) tossed into the party the Apple of Discord, a golden apple inscribed Kallisti – "For the most beautiful one", or "To the Prettiest One" – provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient. The hapless Paris, Prince of Troy, was appointed to select the most beautiful. Each of the three goddesses immediately attempted to bribe Paris to choose her. Hera offered political power; Athena promised skill in battle; and Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. While Greek culture placed a greater emphasis on prowess and power, Paris choose to award the apple to Aphrodite, thereby dooming his city, which was destroyed in the war that ensued.
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Originally posted by thelibra
Thank god they didn't keep the name "Xena". If Lucy Lawless, of all the actors and actresses on Earth, had a planet named after her character, I'd be
The Astronomers have spoken. New discovery, dwarf planet UB313 must no longer be nicknamed Xena. She is now "Eris" after the Greek goddess of Discord. Her Moon is to be called "Dysnomia" after the goddess of lawlessness. By strange coincidence, Xena the Warrior Princess was played on TV by Lucy Lawless and "Discord" was one of the characters in the series. They just can't quite seem to shake off that connection.
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Originally posted by Implosion
Hail Eris!
Eris - initially given the codename "Xena" after a TV character - was discovered on 8 January, 2005, at the Palomar Observatory in California.
The "new" Solar System agreed at the IAU's General Assembly has eight planets - Mercury to Neptune - and at least three dwarf planets: Pluto, Eris and the largest asteroid in the Solar System, Ceres.