In January 2005, Mike Brown announced the discovery of another object from the Kuiper belt, even larger than Pluto. This dwarf planet (plutoid) provisionally named 2003 UB313 or Xena, was recently officially called, Eris.
The new planet has a diameter of about 2,326 km -the last measurement 2011- and it’s 200 km larger than Pluto. These results were obtained using the Hubble Telescope, after that, the Spitzer Space Telescope confirmed it later.
The previous observations were made using a highly sensitive sensor on the IRAM 30-m telescope that measured the heat emitted by the object. It has been discovered that Eris have the same temperature as Pluto. Eris is a significant object because it is known as the largest KBO (Kuiper belt objects) in the Solar System.
Artistic comparison of Eris, Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, 2007 OR10, Quaoar, Orcus, and Earth.
The planet has an orbital period of about 557 years and as of 2011 lies at 96.6 AUs (astronomical units) from the Sun, almost its maximum possible distance (its aphelion is 97.5 AU) besides comets. Currently, the dwarf planet has an apparent magnitude of 18.7, which can be detected by through particular amateur telescopes.
The orbit of Eris (blue) compared to those of Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (white/grey). The arcs below the ecliptic are plotted in darker colours, and the red dot is the Sun. The diagram on the left is a polar view whereas the diagrams on the right are different views from the ecliptic.
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