Eris Universe Last Updated: 01/03/2025 | |
Eris is a fascinating celestial object in our Solar System and one of the largest known dwarf planets. It's about the same size as Pluto, but it's three times farther from the Sun. It is discovered by a team led by Mike Brown in 2005. It is located in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune populated with icy bodies and dwarf planets. | |
- Its discovery was a key factor in reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006, leading to the current definition of planets and dwarf planets by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). - Its diameter is approximately 2,326 km (1,445 miles), slightly smaller than Pluto. Eris is about 27% more massive than Pluto. The surfaceis covered with a layer of frozen methane, giving it a bright and reflective surface with an albedo (reflectivity) of about 96%. The temperature is extremely cold, averaging about -243°C (-405°F), due to its distance from the Sun. - The orbit is highly elliptical, ranging from 38 AU to 97 AU (1 AU = the distance from Earth to the Sun). It takes about 558 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun. Its orbit is tilted at about 44 degrees relative to the plane of the Solar System. - Eris has one known moon, named Dysnomia. This satellite is instrumental in measuring Eris's mass through observations of its orbit. |
Ceres Place » Space Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801. When NASA's Dawn arrived in 2015, Ceres became the first dwarf planet to receive a visit from a spacecraft. 2 views 💖 1Universe | |
Jupiter Place » Space Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and the fifth planet from the sun. The gas giant has a long, rich, history of surprising scientists. Jupiter has 79 moons and is known as the 'king of the planets'. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm) with an orbital period of 11.86 years. 36 views 💖 1Jupiter | |
Mars Place » Space Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and has a distinct rusty red appearance and two unusual moons. The Red Planet is a cold, desert world within our solar system. It has a very thin atmosphere, but the dusty, lifeless planet is far from dull. The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red Planet". 36 views 💖 1Outer Space | |
Saturn Place » Space Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It has a whopping 145 moons. It's the farthest planet from Earth that's visible to the unaided eye, but the planet's most outstanding features — its rings — are better viewed through a telescope. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine-and-a-half times that of Earth. 38 views 💖 1Universe | |
Bennu Place » Space 101955 Bennu is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on 11 September 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table and has the highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale. Bennu has a 1 in nearly 1,800 chance to hit Earth in the next 300 years. 44 views 💖 1Universe | |
Mercury Place » Space Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest to the Sun, with a diameter of about 4,880 km. It has a dense metallic core, constituting roughly 75% of its volume, and a thin silicate crust23. Mercury's surface is heavily cratered due to impacts over billions of years, featuring notable formations like the Caloris Basin34. 7 views 💖 1Solar System | |
Neptune Place » Space Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in our solar system. It’s the fourth-largest, and the first planet discovered with math. The distance is about 4.5 billion kilometers ~2.8 billion miles on average from the Sun. Diameter is approximately 49,244 kilometers ~30,598 miles. The orbit period is 164.8 Earth years and day length is about 16 hours. 7 views 💖 1Solar System | |
Uranus Place » Space Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun in our Solar System and is known as an ice giant because it's made of water, ammonia, and methane. It's the third-largest planet by diameter ~50,724 km or 31,518 miles, about four times wider than Earth and the fourth-largest by mass. 8 views 💖 1Solar System | |
Venus Place » Space Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and the sixth largest planet. It’s the hottest planet in our solar system. It is often called Earth's "sister planet" due to its similar size, mass, and proximity. Early Soviet Venera missions successfully landed on Venus and sent back surface images and data and NASA's Magellan orbiter mapped the surface in the 1990s using radar imaging. 8 views 💖 1Solar System | |
Universe Place » City The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from sub-atomic particles to entire galactic filaments. 12 views 💖 1Universe |