From RedOrbit:
LOS ANGELES - A distant, icy rock whose discovery shook up the solar system and led to Pluto’s planetary demise has been given a name: Eris.Eris-Xena’s moon, ‘Gabrielle’, discovered: here.The christening of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of chaos and strife, was announced by the International Astronomical Union on Wednesday.
Weeks earlier, the professional astronomers’ group stripped Pluto of its planethood under new controversial guidelines.
Since its discovery last year, Eris, which had been known as 2003 UB313, ignited a debate about what constitutes a planet.
Astronomers were split over how to classify the object because there was no universal definition.
Some argued it should be welcomed as the 10th planet since it was larger than Pluto, but others felt Pluto was not a full-fledged planet.
After much bickering, astronomers last month voted to shrink the solar system to eight planets, downgrading Pluto to a “dwarf planet,” a category that also includes Eris and the asteroid Ceres.
Eris’ discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it “too perfect to resist.”
In mythology, Eris caused a quarrel among goddesses that sparked the Trojan War.
In real life, Eris forced scientists to define a planet that eventually led to Pluto getting the boot.
Soon after Pluto’s dismissal from the planet club, hundreds of scientists circulated a petition protesting the decision.
Eris’ moon also received a formal name: Dysnomia, the daughter of Eris known as the spirit of lawlessness.
Eris, which measures about 70 miles wider than Pluto, is the farthest known object in the solar system at 9 billion miles away from sun.
It is also the third brightest object located in the Kuiper belt, a disc of icy debris beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Eris had been without a formal name while astronomers grappled over its status.
Brown nicknamed it “Xena” after the fictional warrior princess pending an official designation.
He admits the new name will take some getting used to.
“It’s a little sad to see Xena go away,” he said.
Dwarf ’sub-planet’ named after Polynesian god: here.
Andromeda galaxy three times bigger than thought: here.
New comet discovered: here.
Exoplanet Gliese 581 c discovered: here.
NASA Craft Yields New Discoveries About Jupiter: here.
Saturn’s moon Iapetus: here.
Iapetus has a dirty face, and it’s getting dirtier every day. That’s the conclusion of astronomers studying Saturn’s oddest moon, a sort of yin-yang symbol in space that’s almost pitch black on one side and icy bright on the other: here.
Saturn moon found to resemble Earth at life’s birth:
Hazy skies on early Earth, similar to those on
Saturn’s moon Titan, could have provided the
ingredients for life, chemists say.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061106_titan.htm
Comment by Administrator — November 14, 2006 @ 11:00 am
Water may still flow on Mars, scientists say:
NASA photos have revealed bright new deposits in two
gullies on Mars.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061206_mars-water.htm
Comment by Administrator — December 13, 2006 @ 9:56 am
Galactic evolution both “nature” and “nurture”:
Galaxies evolve as a result of influences from their
surroundings, astronomers have found.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061206_galaxy-evolution.htm
Comment by Administrator — December 13, 2006 @ 10:01 am
Black diamonds come from space, scientists claim:
Rare, dusky gems were once parts of massive
asteroids that struck Earth, scientists say.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070121_diamonds.htm
Comment by Administrator — January 22, 2007 @ 10:08 am
Jun 14, 2:03 PM EDT
Pluto isn’t even largest dwarf planet
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pity poor Pluto, the puny former planet is facing yet another indignity. Demoted from planethood a year ago into a new category of dwarf planet, it now turns out that it isn’t even the biggest one of those.
“This is sort of Pluto’s last stand,” joked Emily L. Schaller of California Institute of Technology, co-author of a report in Thursday’s issue of the journal Science.
When the International Astronomical Union redefined planets last year, it created the new subcategory dwarf planets, and Pluto was thought to be the largest in that group.
Planetary astronomy professor Michael E. Brown and graduate student Schaller found otherwise while studying Dysnomia, the moon of Eris, another dwarf planet.
Using the Keck Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope they were able to calculate the movement of Dysnomia and, with that information, calculate the mass of Eris at 27 percent more than Pluto. But even though Eris tops Pluto, Earth is still 360 times more massive.
“Pluto and Eris are essentially twins - except that Eris is slightly the pudgier of the two,” Brown said.
Eris, by the way, is named for the Greek goddess of, among other things, rivalry.
—
On the Net:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org
© 2007 The Associated Press.
Comment by Administrator — June 14, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
Craft lifts off to asteroid belt:
In a mission astronomers are hailing as an historic
first, a NASA spacecraft is on its way to study
asteroids.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070927_asteroid.htm
Comment by Administrator — October 3, 2007 @ 11:55 pm
Other universes may be detectable, published
study claims:
If there are other universes, then one or more of
them might leave a mark on ours, researchers say.
http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/071011_universes.htm
Comment by Administrator — October 12, 2007 @ 9:55 am
What lies beneath? Possible Mars caves found:
A discovery is fueling interest in searches for
caves that could shelter Martian life, or human
explorers.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/071007_mars-caves.htm
Comment by Administrator — October 12, 2007 @ 9:59 am
Solar system “packed with planets” looks
like our own:
Astronomers report finding a solar system that
resembles ours more than any other known.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/071106_planet.htm
Comment by Administrator — November 7, 2007 @ 12:55 am
Life’s building blocks formed on Mars: study
Organic molecules might be able to form on any cold,
rocky planet, researchers claim.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/071211_mars-organic.htm
Comment by Administrator — December 14, 2007 @ 7:03 pm
Mystery world a merged planet?:
A strange object “needs a strange explanation,” an
astronomer says.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080110_merger.htm
Comment by Administrator — January 17, 2008 @ 10:54 am
Probe would swim into alien seas:
Scientists hope to send a robotic submarine into
oceans that may lurk within a moon of Jupiter.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080209_europa
Comment by Administrator — February 10, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Some “dwarf planets” are now “plutoids”:
Newly introduced terminology further complicates the
once-simple concept of “planet.”
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080612_plutoid
Comment by Administrator — June 16, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Just-launched telescope scans gamma-ray sky:
The cosmos looks much different outside the narrow
range of colors our eyes see.
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080611_glast
Comment by Administrator — June 16, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Thanks for this great post…
Comment by Solar Products — July 28, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
Thanks, Solar Products.
Comment by Administrator — July 28, 2009 @ 3:13 pm