(Space.com) 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's mini moon has been named Dysnomia (instead of Gabriel) which was the daughter of Eris in mythology. This world orbits about 9 billion miles away from the sun, and it is doubtful that any human colony would want to set up shop on a world that far out into Kuiper belt.
Pluto on the other hand will probably hold value, since it at least intersects Neptune's orbit, even it its only at an angle.
Want more space geek news? Then subscribe below via email, RSS or twitter for free updates! Prefer another service? How about via RSS or follow Colony Worlds on Twitter!
No comments:
Post a Comment
You can either visit the stars or watch them from afar.
But if you choose the former, you'll definitely get a better view.
~Darnell Clayton, 2007
Note: You do not need a Blogger account in order to comment, but you do need to solve the universal puzzle below.