AI overview
Eris is a small, icy dwarf planet located far out in the Solar System beyond Neptune. It matters because its discovery in 2005 challenged our understanding of what counts as a planet and led astronomers to create the new category of "dwarf planets."
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Picture of the Day · NASA
NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
2026-05-26
The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660, a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has several bright blue spiral arms and a central bar of stars, dust, and gas. Captured by chance in the featured deep and colorful image, surprisingly, is SN 2026cff, a supernova found just to the right of the central bar. Farther in the distance is the bottom galaxy, known informally as Burçin’s galaxy, but formally cataloged as LEDA 1000714. The center of this galaxy appears to be an old elliptical galaxy, but it is strangely surrounded by not one but two rings of stars. What created Burçin's galaxy is a mystery and remains a continuing topic of research, but it likely involves the accretion of one or more smaller galaxies.
via NASA APOD
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- astronomical object
- Part of
- scattered disc
- Named after
- Eris
- Official name
- 136199 Eris
- Area
Article
Spectral type B−V=0.78, V−R=0.45 Apparent magnitude 18.7 Absolute magnitude (H) –1.26 Angular diameter 34.4±1.4 milli-arcsec
Eris (minor-planet number 136199) is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory–based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year. It was named in September 2006 after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive in the Solar System (counting moons). It is also the largest known object in the Solar System that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometres (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Both Eris and Pluto have a surface area that is comparable to that of Russia or South America.
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Astronomical objects discovered in 2005Binary trans-Neptunian objectsDiscoveries by Chad TrujilloDiscoveries by David L. RabinowitzDiscoveries by Michael E. BrownDwarf planetsEris (dwarf planet)Eris (mythology)Minor planet object articles (numbered)Named minor planetsNamed TNOsObjects observed by stellar occultation