Title: New Study Reveals Surprising Information About Dwarf Planet Eris
Astronomers have long been intrigued by the distant dwarf planet Eris, located billions of miles beyond Neptune. Unlike its cousin Pluto, Eris has not had any robotic visitors and remains largely unexplored. However, new data from an array of radio telescopes in Chile has shed light on this mysterious icy world.
Eris, which is about 68 times farther from the sun than Earth, was first spotted nearly 18 years ago and is known to have an atmosphere that freezes and snows onto its surface. However, the latest findings suggest that heat leftover from the planet’s birth is causing the icy surface to slowly flex, making it behave less like a solid, rocky planet and more like a “soft cheese.”
The study, co-authored by Francis Nimmo of the University of California Santa Cruz and Mike Brown of Caltech, estimates the mass for Eris’ small moon Dysnomia and reveals that Eris likely has a rocky core enveloped by a convecting icy shell. This convection process is causing the surface of Eris to be “pretty smooth” as any surface features are likely being erased by flowing ice.
While Eris and its moon Dysnomia are mutually tidally locked, meaning they both face the same way toward each other, scientists believe that the tiny moon “raises” tides on Eris, causing the dwarf planet to spin down over billions of years.
The new findings challenge previous assumptions about Eris and provide valuable insights into its composition and behavior. The research, described in a paper published in the journal Science Advances, paves the way for a better understanding of this enigmatic distant world. This study also highlights the need for further exploration and measurements to confirm the accuracy of the new models and to unlock more mysteries about this fascinating dwarf planet.