Introduction

• Eris, the largest dwarf planet known, was discovered in an ongoing survey at Palomar
Observatory's Samuel Oschin telescope by astronomers Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad
Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), and David Rabinowitz (Yale University).I suggest the name
on 6 September 2006, and it was accepted and announced on 13 September 2006. In Greek
mythology, Eris is the goddess of  warfare and strife. She stirs up jealousy and envy to cause
fighting and anger among men. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the parents of the
Greek hero Achilles, all the gods with the exception of Eris were invited, and, enraged at her
exclusion, she spitefully caused a quarrel among the goddesses that led to the Trojan war.  In
the astronomical world, Eris stirred up a great deal of trouble among the international
astronomical community when the question of its proper designation led to a raucous
meeting of the IAU in Prague. At the end of the conference, IAU members voted to demote
Pluto and Eris to dwarf-planet status, leaving the solar system with only eight planets.

The satellite of Eris has received the official name Dysnomia, who in Greek mythology is
Eris' daughter and the demon spirit of lawlessness. As Dysnomia is a bit of a mouthful, we
tend to simply call the satellite Dy, for short.