Thursday, October 05, 2006

Discord in the solar system

Our dwarf planet, the one formerly known as 2003 UB313, has been given a name--Eris, the goddess of discord. As it was her size that convinced astronomers to define planets and dwarf planets, the namers thought it rather appropriate. And her moon got named Dysnomia, after Eris's daughter, who was the goddess of lawlessness.

Eris is way out beyond Pluto, in the Kuiper Belt, which is an excellent place to put discord. If they find she has another moon, I think they ought to call it Paris. All in all, I think the name rather appropriate too--and I'm thrilled they didn't really call it Xena.

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