Eris, which was revealed to be larger than Pluto ignited the debates that eventually led to the removal of Pluto from its status as a planet
The distant world whose discovery prompted astronomers to demote Pluto from its status as a planet has been officially named Eris, after the goddess of disharmony in Greek mythology.
Eris is larger than Pluto, and this discovery forced scientists to decide whether they were both planets or neither. In the end, both bodies were put into a new category - "dwarf planets".
Aris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was a good choice and he found it hard to resist.
In mythology, Eris caused strife between the goddesses that eventually caused the Trojan War. In reality, as mentioned, Eris caused a commotion that caused Pluto to lose the status it had since its discovery in 1930. The need for the new definition proved essential after telescope technology began to help discover more distant objects that rival Pluto in size. This caused too many members of the International Astronomical Union to make the historic decision about a month ago and redefine the solar system.
Initially, its discoverers gave it the name Xena, following its (re)discovery on January 8, 2005, in an observation from the Plummer Observatory in California (it was first discovered in 2003). Its exact size is difficult to estimate, as it is small and pale. Brown's team, using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered that the diameter of the object is at least 70 kilometers larger than the diameter of Pluto. Another team using a radio telescope in Spain measured Eris and determined that its diameter is 700 kilometers larger than the diameter of Pluto - that is, 3,000 kilometers compared to 2,300. Eris also has a moon and is given an official name - Dysnomia, the home of Eris also known as the spirit of lawbreakers.
The decision to shrink the solar system was made at the International Astronomical Union conference in Prague - according to which the solar system actually has eight normal planets and three more (currently) dwarf planets: Pluto, Eris and the largest asteroid in the solar system has collapsed. The astronomers opposed to the removal of Pluto began circulating a petition in an attempt to reverse the decision.
Eris - a world that caused controversy
* First discovered in 2003 but its discovery was confirmed in 2005
* It orbits the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit for 560 years
* Its current location - 14.5 billion km from the Earth
* The temperature on its surface is freezing - minus 250 degrees Celsius.
* It may have a thin atmosphere when it is closer to the sun in its orbit.
* It is accompanied by the Dysnomia moon
* Without the new definition, we might soon be talking about 50 planets in the solar system
