Astrophoto Friday - Eris Discovery

Astrophoto Friday returns today with an animated gif of the discovery photos of dwarf planet Eris. Can you spot it?

Eris is the moving object near the left-hand side of the image.

The discovery of Eris was made by Caltech's Mike Brown and his partners. They first imaged this distant world of the Kuiper Belt using Palomar's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope. The discovery rocked the astronomical world and helped to bump Pluto out of its planetary status. Both Pluto, Eris and some other worlds discovered by Mike at Palomar share a new category, that of dwarf planet.

The discovery and the turmoil that followed is the subject of a new book by Mike Brown which will be available on Tuesday, December 7 (both Gerard Kuiper’s birthday and Pearl Harbor day).


Of course, Palomar Observatory's gift shop will be stocking the book - which happens to make a great gift.

Palomar Find Makes Discovery News Top 10 of the Decade

Discovery News has put out their list of the Top 10 Discoveries of the Decade and their list of Top 10 Space Discoveries of the Decade.

On both lists is the 2005 discovery of the world known as Eris. Knowledge of the existence of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of discord, helped to push Pluto out of the planetary roll call. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union officially proclaimed both Pluto and Eris to be part of a new, non-planet, classification known as "dwarf planets."

The discovery was made using the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope by the team of Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale).

The discovery was made as a part of survey of the outer solar system using the Palomar QUEST camera and the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory.

Update:

HPWREN Helps Palomar Make the List of the Decade's Top 10 Discoveries

See also Ten Science Discoveries That Changed Our Decade and Top ten science stories of the decade from MSNBC.

I'm Your Moon

The logical followup to my post about the Guitar Nebula is something with actual guitar in it. Thankfully I have a perfect astronomy song to kick off your weekend.

As I mentioned earlier in the week we are coming up on the three year anniversary of the IAU's decision to demote Pluto from planet to dwarf planet.

Shortly after that event Jonathan Coulton wrote this song. He explains it better than I can. So watch and listen to this clip from his DVD BEST. CONCERT. EVER.

I know of lots of love songs that mention our moon, but this is the only one that I know of that was written as one celestial body singing to another. It is really masterful and the most creative thing I know of to come as a result of the IAU's decision. You should enjoy this song no matter which side you are on of the Pluto dwarf planet debate.

Tip of the dome to Jeff P. who alerted me to this.

Eris Anniversary

Four years ago today the discovery of dwarf planet Eris was announced. Eris was found using Palomar's Samuel Oschin Telescope. Of course back then it didn't even have a proper name. Eris helped to push the issue of Pluto's planetary status forward and nearly three years ago the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided to create the new dwarf planet category and put both Pluto and Eris into to it (along with the asteroid Ceres).

The IAU meets again this summer. While the issue of Pluto may not come up again there, it certainly hasn't gone away. NewScientist has as story Is Pluto a planet after all? that is worth reading if you are interested in this issue.

Also Mike Brown, the discoverer of Eris, has some book reviews on his blog that cover the events related to the whole dwarf planet / Pluto issue. Click on over to see what he has to say about The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto by Govert Schillng. Both books are on my reading list, but I haven't gotten around to them yet.

The Great Planet Debate

It is a huge understatement to say that there has been some controversy about how astronomers have handled the status of Pluto and the definition of a planet in recent years. The 2006 decision by the International Astronomical Union that defined a planet and created the new term "dwarf planet" confused and angered some members of the general public. Many astronomers were not pleased either.

It has been two years and the controversy has not gone away. It is manifesting itself this week in the form of The Great Planet Debate. Astronomers Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the American Museum of Natural History, will square off on Thursday, August 14 from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. (PDT) in a debate that will be carried live over the Internet. To watch the event you must register online in advance.

Sykes is proposing that our solar system has 13 planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, Eris, and Makemake), while Tyson, as you might imagine has a different idea (just 8 planets like the IAU put forward). No matter which side of the debate you come in on, this is an interesting time where people can see how the scientific process moves along and how new discoveries can make us re-think our ideas.

Plutoids

Have you heard the news? Pluto is the defining object for the other round ice balls of the outer solar system. The new IAU-approved term for such objects is Plutoid. Read all about Plutoids in this post from the Mike Brown's Planets blog.

Cool stuff.

A Look Back

2008 will mark the 60th anniversary of the dedication of the Hale Telescope (1948 - 2008). Over the course of the year I'll be presenting some historical highlights from the observatory's past.

January 1, 1801 —Long before the birth of the Palomar Observatory Ceres, the first asteroid, was discovered by Guiseppe Piazzi. For a time Ceres was thought to be a planet. With the discovery of other asteroids, and the asteroid belt, it was eventually realized that Ceres is better described as the largest member of the asteroid belt.

This same sort of sequence was repeated with Pluto. It was discovered in 1930 and classified as a planet. In the 1990s came the eventual discovery of the Kuiper Belt, a collection of icy bodies in the outer solar system. 2005 brought the discovery of distant Eris, a world larger than Pluto. Eris was discovered using the Palomar Observatory's Samuel Oschin Telescope. Its discovery called into question the planetary status of Pluto.

In 2006 Ceres, Pluto and Eris were re-classified and given a new status —dwarf planet. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) dropped down to just 8 planets.


Some people are still upset by the IAU's decision to demote Pluto. Others see it as just another step in our understanding of our back yard, the solar system.