THE DISTANT WORLD
Eris is a dwarf planet located far beyond
Neptune in a region of the Solar System
known as the scattered disc.
It was discovered in 2005 by a team led
by astronomer Mike Brown. Its discovery
was one of the major events that led to
the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf
planet in 2006.
Eris is slightly smaller in diameter than
Pluto, but its mass is slightly greater.
It has an extremely distant and elongated
orbit around the Sun.
Eris takes more than five centuries to
complete one orbit.
The dwarf planet has one known moon,
Dysnomia, which helped astronomers
determine Eris's mass.
~2,326 km
DIAMETER
~558 YEARS
ORBITAL PERIOD
~68 AU
AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM SUN
2005
DISCOVERED
1
KNOWN MOON
DWARF PLANET
CLASSIFICATION
ERIS FEATURES
DYSNOMIA
Eris has one known moon named
Dysnomia. Its orbit helped scientists
measure the mass of Eris.
SCATTERED DISC
Eris travels through the distant
scattered disc, far beyond the main
planetary region of the Solar System.
PLUTO'S RIVAL
The discovery of Eris forced astronomers
to reconsider what should officially
count as a planet.
DID YOU KNOW?
Eris is so far from the Sun that it takes
about 558 years to complete
a single orbit.
ORBONIX · SOLAR SYSTEM
DWARF PLANET · ERIS
DWARF PLANET · ERIS