Astronomy Picture of the Day: Eris: More Massive than Pluto


	Astronomy Picture of the Day: Eris: More Massive than Pluto

travislaborde

6-19-2007 7:53 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/7c05296a-f696-4306-a2d7-6e2e5949bb62/4AFC0143-C00C-4AD5-B82B-ACDC583BD776/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html" style="font-size: 11px;">antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><H1> Astronomy Picture of the Day </H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/img/C119806C-1405-48CF-A186-0410F125B619" alt="See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><B> Eris: More Massive than Pluto </B></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><P>
<B> Explanation: </B>
<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_%28dwarf_planet%29 ">Eris</A>, a 
<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet">dwarf planet</A> 
currently orbiting the Sun at about twice Pluto's distance, 
<A href="http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/24">has
been measured</A> 
to have about 27 percent more mass than Pluto.  
The mass was calculated by timing the orbit of Eris' moon 
<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_(moon)">Dysnomia</A>.  
Images taken with a ground-based 
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971227.html">Keck telescope</A>,
when combined with existing images taken by 
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html">Hubble Space Telescope</A>,
show that Dysnomia has a nearly circular orbit lasting about 16 days.  
Cataloged as 2003 UB313 only a year ago, 
<A href="http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/infrared.html">infrared images</A> also showed previously that Eris is actually
larger in diameter than <A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060903.html">Pluto</A>.  
The plane of Eris' orbit is well out of the plane of the 
<A href="http://nineplanets.org/overview.html">Solar System</A>'s planets.  
In the above drawing, a scientific artist has imagined Eris and Dysnomia orbiting our distant Sun. 
No space missions are currently planned to Eris, although the robotic 
<A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons">New Horizons</A> spacecraft bound for 
<A href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/overview/faqs.php">Pluto</A> has recently  
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070307.html">passed Jupiter</A>.  
</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/4AFC0143-C00C-4AD5-B82B-ACDC583BD776/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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