http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_sc/dwarf_planet
LOS ANGELES - A distant, icy rock whose discovery shook up the solar
system and led to Pluto's planetary demise has been given a name: Eris.
The christening of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of chaos and
strife, was announced by the International Astronomical Union on
Wednesday. Weeks earlier, the professional astronomers' group stripped
Pluto of its planethood under new controversial guidelines.
Since its discovery last year, Eris, which had been known as 2003
UB313, ignited a debate about what constitutes a planet.
Astronomers were split over how to classify the object because there
was no universal definition. Some argued it should be welcomed as the
10th planet since it was larger than Pluto, but others felt Pluto was
not a full-fledged planet.
After much bickering, astronomers last month voted to shrink the solar
system to eight planets, downgrading Pluto to a "dwarf planet," a
category that also includes Eris and the asteroid Ceres.
Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of
Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too
perfect to resist."
