Eris (Xena) News

July 14, 2016

Present-Day Subsurface Ocean On Pluto?

Dwarf Planet Makemake Has a Little Moon

Evidence of a Real Ninth Planet Discovered

Jan. 20, 2016 — Researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet ... read more

Monster Planet Is 'Dancing With the Stars'

Dec. 16, 2015 — A team of scientists has discovered a highly unusual planetary system comprised of a sun-like star, a dwarf star, and an enormous planet sandwiched ... read more

Despite New Information, Pluto Will Remain a Dwarf Planet, Cosmologist Says

July 16, 2015 — Back in 1930, it was an easy answer -- Pluto was a planet because we couldn't see anything else brighter at a similar distance away from us, says a cosmologist. Then, in the ... read more

What Our Solar System Looked Like as a ‘toddler’

May 27, 2015 — Astronomers have identified a young planetary system which may aid in understanding how our own solar system formed and developed billions of ... read more

New Exoplanet Too Big for Its Star Challenges Ideas About How Planets Form

May 1, 2015 — The discovery of a strange exoplanet orbiting very close to a small cool star 500 light years away is challenging ideas about how ... read more

NASA Spacecraft Becomes First to Orbit a Dwarf Planet

Mar. 6, 2015 — NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when ... read more

Dawn Spacecraft Delivers New Image of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Jan. 19, 2015 — As NASA's Dawn spacecraft closes in on Ceres, new images show the dwarf planet at 27 pixels across, about three times better than the calibration images taken in early ... read more

Harsh Space Weather May Doom Potential Life on Red-Dwarf Planets

June 2, 2014 — Life in the universe might be even rarer than we thought. Recently, astronomers looking for potentially habitable worlds have targeted red dwarf stars because they are the ... read more

Solar System Has a New Most-Distant Member

Mar. 26, 2014 — The Solar System has a new most-distant member, bringing its outer frontier into focus. New work reports the discovery of a distant dwarf planet, called 2012 VP113, which was ... read more

Newly Discovered Celestial Object Defies Categories: Is It a New Kind of Planet or a Rare Kind of Failed Star?

Jan. 8, 2014 — An object discovered by astrophysicists nearly 500 light years away from the Sun may challenge traditional understandings ... read more

Scientists Discover Pluto's 'Little Sister' Makemake Has Its Own Moon

There's New Evidence Of A Distant Ninth Planet In Our Solar System

Ceres Secrets Revealed

NASA Releases 'best Close-Ups' Of Planet Pluto

Cosmic Dust Belts Without Dust

July 8, 2013 — Planets and asteroids, red giants and brown dwarfs – there are all kinds of objects in our Universe. Debris disks are among them. These are belts consisting of countless dust particles and ... read more

Retired Star Found With Planets and Debris Disc

Apr. 9, 2013 — The European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory has provided the first images of a dust belt -- produced by colliding comets or asteroids -- orbiting a subgiant star known to host a ... read more

Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit for Fomalhaut B

Jan. 8, 2013 — Newly released Hubble Space Telescope images of a vast debris disk encircling the nearby star Fomalhaut and a mysterious planet circling it may provide forensic evidence of a titanic planetary ... read more

Evidence of Asteroid Belt Around Vega

Jan. 8, 2013 — Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The discovery of an asteroid belt-like band of debris ... read more

Can Life Emerge on Planets Around Cooling Stars?

Nov. 29, 2012 — New research hints that planets orbiting white and brown dwarfs, even in the habitable zone, face a "difficult path to ... read more

Do Missing Jupiters Mean Massive Comet Belts?

Nov. 27, 2012 — Astronomers have discovered vast comet belts surrounding two nearby planetary systems known to host only Earth-to-Neptune-mass worlds. The comet reservoirs could have delivered life-giving oceans to ... read more

Dwarf Planet Makemake Lacks Atmosphere: Distant Frigid World Reveals Its Secrets for First Time

Nov. 21, 2012 — Dwarf planet Makemake is about two thirds of the size of Pluto, and travels around the Sun in a distant path that lies beyond that of Pluto but closer to the Sun than Eris, the most massive known ... read more

Comet Collisions Every Six Seconds Explain 17-Year-Old Stellar Mystery

Nov. 8, 2012 — Every six seconds, for many millions of years, comets have been colliding near a star visible to the naked eye, astronomers ... read more

Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto

July 11, 2012 — A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6 to ... read more

Giant Planet Ejected from the Solar System?

Nov. 10, 2011 — Just as an expert chess player sacrifices a piece to protect the queen, the solar system may have given up a giant planet and spared the Earth, according to a new ... read more

City Lights Could Reveal E.T. Civilization

Nov. 3, 2011 — In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, astronomers have hunted for radio signals and ultra-short laser pulses. Astronomers suggest a new technique for finding aliens: Look for their city ... read more

Faraway Eris Is Pluto's Twin

Oct. 26, 2011 — Astronomers have measured the diameter of the dwarf planet Eris by catching it as it passed in front of a faint star. This was seen by telescopes in Chile, including the TRAPPIST telescope at the ... read more

NASA's Spitzer Detects Comet Storm in Nearby Solar System

Oct. 19, 2011 — NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period known ... read more

Stardust Discovered in Far-Off Planetary Systems

Sep. 29, 2011 — Searching for extra-solar planets -- which are planets outside of our solar system -- is very popular these days. About 700 planets are known at the moment, a number that is continuously rising due ... read more

Astronomers Find Extreme Weather on an Alien World: Cosmic Oddball May Harbor a Gigantic Storm

Sep. 12, 2011 — A University of Toronto-led team of astronomers has observed extreme brightness changes on a nearby brown dwarf that may indicate a storm grander than any seen yet on a planet. Because old brown ... read more

Astronomers Find Ice and Possibly Methane on Snow White, a Distant Dwarf Planet

Aug. 22, 2011 — Astronomers have discovered that the dwarf planet 2007 OR10 -- nicknamed Snow White -- is an icy world, with about half its surface covered in water ice that once flowed from ancient, slush-spewing ... read more

Dwarf Planet Haumea Shines With Crystalline Ice

May 12, 2011 — The fifth dwarf planet of the solar system, Haumea, and at least one of its two satellites, are covered in crystalline water-ice due to the tidal forces between them and the heat of radiogenic ... read more

New Telescope Is Exploring Solar System 'Outback'

Jan. 13, 2011 — In the outer reaches of our solar system lies a mysterious region far more remote and difficult to explore than the Australian outback. It remains the only part of our solar system not visited by ... read more

Neptune Could Not Have Knocked Planetoids in Cold Classical Kuiper Belt to Edge of Solar System

Oct. 6, 2010 — New research is challenging popular theory about how part of our solar system formed. Contrary to popular belief, new evidence suggests the planet Neptune can't have knocked a collection of ... read more

Planet-Like Object Found Circling a Brown Dwarf

Apr. 9, 2010 — As our telescopes grow more powerful, astronomers are uncovering objects that defy conventional wisdom. The latest example is the discovery of a planet-like object circling a brown dwarf. It's ... read more

Monday, July 8, 2013