wiki Word: Eris (UB313)

Definition: The largest known dwarf planet in our solar system.

history- Eris is a (2003) newly dicovered dwarf planet in our solar system. It used to be called UB313 and nicknamed Xena, until 2006 when the name Eris was suggested. Eris is the name of the Greek godess of strife, discord, contention and rivalry. She is said to have started a dispute among the godesses that started the Trojan War.

Where is Eris located?- Eris is the farthest orbiting object to our sun. It is nearly 10 billion miles from the sun, and it is approximately 3 times further away from the sun as the furthest planet, pluto, and 97 times further away from the sun than Earth. It takes nearly 557 years for Eris to orbit our sun.

How big is Eris?-Eris is the biggest dwarf planet in our solar system, it is bigger than Pluto and smaller than our moon, (Luna). It is 2,500 kilometers in diameter, and it is 27% more massive than pluto.

(This picture shows the size of some planets and dwarf planets compared to one another)

What does Eris look like? - Eris looks similar to Pluto in that the insides of the dwarf planets seem to be made up of rock and ice, but unlike Pluto, Eris looks almost white in color. In many pictures though, Eris appears to be a glowing red blob.  (you can see this in two of the pictures below)

Images

 The following images are of Eris

       (The image above shows Eris' orbit along with some other orbits as well)

  The circled object is eris the night it was discovered

SO WHAT??? SECTION: Why are we studying this term? Why do you need to understand this word to be sucessful in science? How does this term apply to any of our class labs or the real world?  We are studying Eris because it is a member of our solar system. In order to understand our solar sysrem in depth it is important to know about all objects in our solar system whether they are big, small, dangerous, or insignificant. For all we know dwarf planets may end up being the next place humans go to settle away from earth. Or, Eris may have a mineral that could be brought to earth and advance our society beyond our imaginations. The truth is, we are only a small part of the universe, and it is important to learn about all of the objects and places surrounding us.

Citations-

not listed, not listed. "The discovery of 2003 UB313 Eris, the 10th planet largest known dwarf planet." http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/. 10 Dec 2005. Astrophysical Journal Letters. 11 May 2008 <http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/>.

Russell, Randy. "Dwarf Planets." http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/our_solar_system/dwarf_planets/dwarf_planets.html. 28 Nov 2007. © The Regents of the University of Michigan. 11 May 2008 <http://www.windows.ucar.edu>.

not stated, not stated. "Astronomers Measure Mass of Largest Dwarf Planet." http://hubblesite.org. 14 June 2007. hubblesite. 11 May 2008 <http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/24/image/a/>.

open editing. "Dysnomia (moon." http://en.wikipedia.org. last date not mentioned. wikipedia. 11 May 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_(moon>.

Delhanty, Marc. "Eris, the Largest Dwarf Planet." http://www.astronomytoday.com. ? ? 2008. Astronomy Today. 15 May 2008 <http://www.astronomytoday.com/aboutat.html>.