Eris

Eris, in astronomy

Eris, in astronomy, dwarf planet that is the most distant body known to be in orbit around the sun. Eris, whose highly eccentric elliptical orbit ranges from 38 AU to 97 AU and is inclined more than 44°, is the largest known object of the Kuiper belt (see comet), with a diameter (c.1,500 mi/2,400 km) somewhat larger than that of Pluto. Taking 560 earth years to circle the sun, Eris is believed to be composed of rock and ice. At aphelion (the most distant point from the sun in Eris's orbit), where the temperature is −405°F; (−243°C;), Eris's surface is covered with highly reflective frozen methane, which forms its atmosphere when it is closer to the sun and the surface temperature is warmer (−360°F;/−218°C;). Eris was discovered on Jan. 5, 2005, by astronomers Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz, using computer analysis of images taken two years earlier in a survey of the Kuiper belt. It was named for the Greek goddess of strife because its discovery was a catalyst for the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet. Eris is known to have one natural satellite,

Dysnomia, named for the daughter of the goddess Eris; the moon is estimated to have a diameter about an eighth that of Eris. Eris and its moon were nicknamed Xena and Gabrielle, respectively, before they were officially named.

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Eris, in Greek religion

Eris (ē`rĭs), in Greek religion, goddess of strife. Angered at not being invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she threw the apple of discord among the wedding guests (see Paris, in Greek mythology).

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Eris

Ancient Greek personification of strife. Her Roman counterpart was Discordia. The daughter of Nyx and the sister of Ares, she was best known for her role in starting the Trojan War. When she alone was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she threw down among the guests a golden apple inscribed “for the most beautiful.” Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each claimed it, and Zeus assigned the task of judging to the Trojan Paris. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, who in turn helped him carry off the beautiful Helen, an act that triggered war.

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Eris

Large, distant body of the solar system, revolving around the Sun well beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. Found in telescopic images in 2005, it was nicknamed “Xena” by its discoverers and also briefly termed the “10th planet”; for a time it was provisionally designated 2003 UB₃₁₃. Its diameter of roughly 1,550 mi (2,400 km) makes Eris slightly larger than Pluto. Both it and Pluto are classified as dwarf planets under the categories for bodies orbiting the Sun defined in August 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.

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Eris

goddess of discord; threw apple of discord among Peleus’s wedding guests. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 95]

See : Discord

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Eris - /e'ris/ The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinised to Discordia and she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity in the Classical original, she was reinvented as a more benign personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the adherents of Discordianism and has since been a semi-serious subject of veneration in several "fringe" cultures, including hackerdom. See Church of the SubGenius.