"Xena" now Eris

[ittiz]

I see this hasn't hit the news here yet but Fox news just reported that that dwarf planet "Xena" is now officially named Eris which is the greek goddess of chaos. How apt.

 

[mikeemmert]

<img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

 

[wonky]

Eris is 1000 times better than Xena. Whenever I hear the name Xena, I can't stop thinking of a bunch of nerds drooling. Xena is just as bad a name as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

[mikeemmert]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>...a bunch of nerds drooling...<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><img src="/images/icons/blush.gif" />

 

[jmilsom]

I liked 'Xena.' There are not enough X words in the world. I don't think my wife would describe me as a drooling nerd. <br /><br />Can one drool over an icy KBO? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[enigma10]

Sure. Just clean the lens when you're done.<img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[3488]

It is good to see that 2003 UB313 now has a proper name. All we have to do now, is find a proper name for its moon 'Gabrielle'.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[sidyan]

Eris's moon is currently reported as being "(136199) Eris I Dysnomia", at least by Wikipedia. For more info on the both of them, see Eris and Dysnomia

 

[3488]

Cheers thanks for that.<br /><br />Eris & Dysnomia now feel like a 'real KBO system' just as Pluto, Charon, Nix & Hydra.<br /><br />Dysmonia is the daughter of Eris in Greek mythology. So two agents of chaos for the price of one!!<br /><br />Either way, both objects are very cold, about minus 240 Celsius (33 Kelvin), so almost as warm as a British Summer then!!!!!<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[cp28]

space.com is really dropping the ball by not getting the latest space updates out. I should not be able to find this on msnbc first instead of space.com<br /><br />http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14825585/

 

[3488]

It is interesting that the figure of the orbital period of Dysnomia around Eris has been thought of being 14 days, at an average distance of 35,000 KM. <br /><br />Also Dysnomia also appears to be quite large, about 400 KM / 250 miles across. Eris is about 2,400 KM / 1,500 miles across, so Dysnomia is quite large in relation to the primary.<br /><br />Hopefully we will get some decent observations soon, perhaps from the HST or the Keck pair with adaptive optics. Perhaps further size refinements, rotational periods, axial tilts, chemical analysis, etc.<br /><br />Eris must be approaching opposition soon, being in northern Cetus.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

And the poor Indian god varuna.The only Indian KBO.You dont talk of it.What fault the poor god has done.

 

[MeteorWayne]

What is a bad move, and why? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi alokmohan. Yes it has been quiet with Varuna. Just quietly moving in front of the constellation of Coma Berenices, in the dark coldness of the Kuiper Belt, so another object almost as warm as a British Summer!!<br /><br />Yes I agree. More research should be done on all of these, Varuna included.<br /><br />I too, do not get what is a bad move?!?!?!.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I think "Varuna" is my favorite, at least in terms of name. I don't know anything about the mythological Varuna, but I think it's a very beautiful name.<br /><br />Also, there was a Doctor Who episode set in a fictional "Varuna system", implying that the central star of that solar system was called Varuna. I think it was "Frontios". <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Steve, the names may be arbitrary, but the system does NOT allow discoverers to name them.<br />Mythical gods are the names that have always been used.<br /><br />When they gave it the Nickname Xena, they knew it was not going to be the final name.<br /><br />Jeez, no rules are any value to you. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[mithridates]

Interesting idea but that's completely wrong.<br /><br />"Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too perfect to resist."" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>

 

[mikeemmert]

Mike Brown actually gave it that name. It fits all the rules, which "Xena" never did. I was hoping he would change his mind and stick with Xena, but he didn't.<br /><br />There's a stronger reason that Mike Brown named it Eris. Eris was the mythological figure who started the Trojan War. I'm telling you guys, Eris is a Neptunian Trojan! It initially formed in the Sun/Neptune Lagrange point, L4 or L5.<br /><br />"The most famous tale of Eris<font color="yellow"> ('Strife') recounts her initiating the Trojan War. The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite had been invited along with the rest of Olympus to the forced wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles, but Eris had been snubbed because of her troublemaking inclinations.<br /><br />She therefore (in a fragment from the Kypria as part of a plan hatched by Zeus and Themis) tossed into the party the Apple of Discord, a golden apple inscribed Kallisti – "For the most beautiful one", or "To the Prettiest One" – provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient. The hapless Paris, Prince of Troy, was appointed to select the most beautiful. Each of the three goddesses immediately attempted to bribe Paris to choose her. Hera offered political power; Athena promised skill in battle; and Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. While Greek culture placed a greater emphasis on prowess and power, Paris choose to award the apple to Aphrodite, thereby dooming his city, which was destroyed in the war that ensued<font color="white">".<br /><br />What is shaping up with 136199 Eris is a wordwar over whether or not Eris formed in a stable Lagrange point. I believe it and Pluto did. That would definitely make them not-planets, belonging in the class of Trojan asteroids. Here's a</font></font>

 

[sidyan]

my favourite used to be 28978 Ixion ... until today, that is ... ;-)

 

[serak_the_preparer]

Followers of the Warrior Princess will be disappointed.<br /><br />Fans of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, on the other hand, will be thrilled. This will give the kids something to like about astronomers after the recent unpleasantness in Prague. : )

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Mike Brown actually gave it that name. It fits all the rules, which "Xena" never did. I was hoping he would change his mind and stick with Xena, but he didn't. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Yep. He went on record from the start saying that part of the reason he chose the nickname Xena was precisely <i>because</i> it wouldn't make it as an official name. Basically, he was waiting to see if the IAU would make a determination about planethood first, so he needed a temporary name that would definitely get discarded.<br /><br />I like the name he ended up with. It's got a good story behind it. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[wonky]

space.com is really dropping the ball by not getting the latest space updates out. I should not be able to find this on msnbc first instead of space.com<br /><br /><br />...that's because it's not a "real planet" LOL

 

[mikeemmert]

It should get more respect as a "real" Trojanoid rather than a puny planet. You watch this story unfold. You will find that Eris rides a Trojan horse.

 

[3488]

Hi there,<br /><br />I think we will find several of these eventually. I still would not rule out a Mars sized object, very far away with a dark dusty layer (the reason why it remains undiscovered), but it will be found soon.<br /><br />Mikeemmert raises a good point, that many of these appear to be physically related, but have been scattered.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Varuna is mythological God of rgVEDA.He sort of controls weather.In Vedas names are confusing.Frankly not many are well informed.But the monopoly of roman andgreek gods are over.Thanks Calli.