Eris is like the biggest kid in the dwarf planet playground, and she’s so big, she made scientists rethink who the main characters are in the solar system story.
Eris is a dwarf planet, which means it's kind of like a planet but not quite. It’s round like a ball (so it’s not just a rock), but it doesn’t clean up after itself, it doesn't pull all the other rocks around it into orbit, like Earth does.
Eris lives far out in the solar system, way beyond Neptune, in a place called the Kuiper Belt. Think of the Kuiper Belt as a giant asteroid toy box, Eris is one of the bigger toys inside.
What makes Eris special? She has a moon, named Dysnomia. It’s like having a best friend who follows you everywhere, Dysnomia orbits Eris, just like the Moon orbits Earth.
Scientists discovered Eris in 2005, and she was so big, it helped them decide that Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet, there are more like it!
So Eris is like a big, faraway cousin of Pluto who came to visit and changed the rules of the game. Eris is like the biggest kid in the dwarf planet playground, and she’s so big, she made scientists rethink who the main characters are in the solar system story.
Eris is a dwarf planet, which means it's kind of like a planet but not quite. It’s round like a ball (so it’s not just a rock), but it doesn’t clean up after itself, it doesn't pull all the other rocks around it into orbit, like Earth does.
Eris lives far out in the solar system, way beyond Neptune, in a place called the Kuiper Belt. Think of the Kuiper Belt as a giant asteroid toy box, Eris is one of the bigger toys inside.
What makes Eris special? She has a moon, named Dysnomia. It’s like having a best friend who follows you everywhere, Dysnomia orbits Eris, just like the Moon orbits Earth.
Scientists discovered Eris in 2005, and she was so big, it helped them decide that Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet, there are more like it!
So Eris is like a big, faraway cousin of Pluto who came to visit and changed the rules of the game.
Examples
- A child learns that Eris is a big, icy ball in the outer solar system.
- Eris is like Pluto’s bigger, colder cousin.
- Scientists use Eris to help classify planets.
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See also
- How Does Birth of a Comet - How The Universe Works Work?
- How Does All the Planets from Inside in 3D Work?
- How Does Comets: Crash Course Astronomy #21 Work?
- How Does Formation of the Planets Work?
- How Does Day and Night Explained in One Minute Work?