images

Dwarf planet Eris. Artwork

by

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Novapix

Reference

a-sys10-99001

Date

2008-10-02

The dwarf planet, formerly known as 2003 UB313 (or Xena), is now called Eris, after the Greek goddess of discord and strife. This artist's concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003 UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. Our Sun can be seen in the distance. The new planet, which is yet to be formally named, is at least as big as Pluto and about three times farther away from the Sun than Pluto. It is very cold and dark. The planet was discovered by the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2005.