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 Dwarf Planet Eris - Facts, Information, and Pictures


Dwarf planet Eris is the largest known Kuiper Belt object.  It was discovered in 2005 by Michael Brown and his team at MIT.  He argued that if Pluto is classified as a planet, then Xena (now known as Eris) should be a planet.  It was a convincing argument,  as Eris was slightly larger than Pluto.  Instead the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to dwarf planet status and lumped Eris in the same category.  Eris has an orbital period of 557 years due to its extreme distance from the Sun.

Eris has one moon that we know of named Dysnomia.  It is expected to be less than 150km in diameter.  It orbits Eris every 15.7 days and at a distance of 37,000km.

Diameter   (km) 2,400 ± 97
Orbital Period (years) 557
Orbital Inclination  44.2 degrees
Eris
Image of Eris
and Dysnomia

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