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| Alexander Novati, Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Recently, astronomers were able to monitor dwarf planet Eris as is transited a star. This means that, from our (Earth's) perspective, Eris traveled directly in front of a distant star. This transit event was informative because it allowed us to measure Eris's size with unprecedented accuracy. The results were a bit of a surprise... ... Eris turns out to be a little smaller than previously thought. This seems to be because Eris's surface is more reflective than previously thought.
Besides astronomers, many people in the general public are interested in the size of Eris. Why does this relatively small object have such an important role to play in our solar system (specifically, the classification of objects within the Solar System)?
If you can't answer the previous question, let's start out with some basic facts about Eris. Where is it? When was it discovered? By whom? How big do astronomers think it is?
~Eris is almost 10 billion miles away from the sun
ReplyDelete~It was discovered in January 2005.
~It was discovered by Palomar Observatory-based team led by Mike Brown.
~Astronomers think it's 2300-2400km in diameter.
It's important in our solar System because it may have been a 10th planet since it's bigger than Pluto. It also motivated the IAU to define the word "planet" for the first time. So Eris is a dwarf planet and we lost Pluto as a planet because of the discovery of Eris.
I would have thought that Eris would be smaller than pluto! but hey, maybe not...In my opinion, knowing what's in our universe is important because we obviously learn so much more with every discovery; large and small!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ms. Sunshine95 comlpletely in my reasearch i found that because eris is bigger than pluto it can and should be called the 10th planet in our solar system. I think one reason that why it isnt is because it is over 96.6 AU from the sun and astromers don't want to have to deal with another planet in our solar system. It is roughly 0.27% of the earths mass.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet)
Eris could replace Pluto as our nineth planet seeing as Pluto is no Longer a Planet because of the discovery of Eris, it would make sense that we deem Eris as the outermost planet to our Solar System, Eris is about 27% larger than Pluto. Eris has one known moon, Dysnomia. It is about 3 times farther from the sun than pluto.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ms.Sunshine95.I found mainly the same information in my research. I believe that because of the fact that Eris is bigger than Pluto should make people consider Eris a planet in our solar system.But after reading Useful_Idiot's point that Eris is over 96.6 AU from the sun, I understand why they wouldnt consider it a planet.Plus, we already stopped considering Pluto a planet.It does play an important role in our solar system, dispite wither we consider it a planet or not.
ReplyDeleteEris is important because it is the reason Pluto was kicked out as a planet. Eris is larger than Pluto. It is estimated at 2300-2400 km in diameter. While Pluto is only 2274 km n diameter. It seems to me that Eris should replace Pluto.
ReplyDeleteSome facts about Eris is that it was discovered by the team of Chad Trujillo, David Rabinowitz, and led by Mike Brown in January of 2005 at Mt. Palomar Observatory in California. As of 2011 it lies 96.6 astonomial units from the sun. It is between 2300 and 2400 km in diameter. It is 27% more massive than Pluto and .27% of the Earth's mass. It has one moon called Dysnomia. It may possibly be our 10th planet but the debate continues. A group of astronomers have had to redefine the term planet. As of now both Pluto and Eris are called Dwarf Planets. Mason Smeznik
ReplyDeleteEris is 3 times farther out from the Sun than Pluto. It was discovered on Jan 5th, 2005. Mike Brown and his team discovered it. Scientists were surprised to find out that Eris is around the same size as Pluto but it has more mass. 27% more mass to be exact. The discovery is important because Eris is now the most massive dwarf planet and also the 9th most massive thing to orbit the Sun directly.
ReplyDeleteHannah
Eris is the most massive dwarf planet in our Solar System. It is the ninth most massive body to orbit the sun directly. Eris is estimated to have a diameter of about 2330 km., which is roughly the same diameter as Pluto. It was discovered in January of 2005 by a team led by Mike Brown. Originally Eris was said to be larger than Pluto, therefore being known as our “tenth planet”. However when astronomers came up with a new, more specific definition of the word planet, both Pluto and Eris were then known as Dwarf Planets.
ReplyDeleteWhen it was discovered in 1930, scientists believed that Pluto was about as large as Earth. In the 1960s, it was found to be about half the size of Earth. In 1978, it was discovered that Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is so bright that it had before been mistakenly “combined” with Pluto, which made everyone think Pluto was bigger than it actually is. Also, Eris is not substantially bigger than Pluto. I think this is why it is not named a new planet in our solar system.
ReplyDeleteThe whole of Eris is out of proportion with a actual planet seeing as i have heard pluto is only 1/4 the size of the earth and eris is nearly the same both of them deserve to be in the same category.
ReplyDeleteEris, like, pluto, is a dwarf planet. It is located 96.9 AU away from the sun, it is alo farther from the sun than pluto is. Eris is, according to NASA, the 10th planet. It was discovered January 5th 2005 by M.E. Brown, C.A. Trujillo and D.L. Rabiowitz. It is approximently 2300-2400km in diameter. Which makes it 27% more mass than Pluto and 0.27% of Earth's mass.
ReplyDeleteEris has been described as being the tenth planet in our solar system. After its discovery it caused the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the approved definition of IAU, Eris and Pluto were both defined as being “dwarf planets”.
ReplyDelete· Eris is a trans-Neptunian object and is a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk. It was discovered in January 2005 by a team led by Mike Brown. Astronomers measured its diameter as being about 2,397 km, give or take 100 km.
Thanks for the comments this week!
ReplyDeleteEros was discovered by mike e. Brown on January 5 of 2005. It appears to be farther out in the solar system than any other planet or dwarf planet. It's diameter is believed to be 2,326 km.
ReplyDelete*Eris is the largest object found in orbit around the sun since the discovery of Neptune and its moon Triton in 1846.
ReplyDelete*Discovered in 1930.
*It is almost 10 billion miles from the sun.
*4th brightest Kuiper belt object
*It is determined that Eris is 2400 +/- 100 km across.
*560 year oribital period
*Visible in the late summer, fall, early winter.
*It is important to our solar system to to the fact that Pluto is not a planet anymore and Eris has a satellite.
In my research, I found that Eris is the ninth most massive body to orbit the sun directly. It is estimated to be about 2300-2400 km in diameter and 27% more massive than Pluto.
ReplyDelete