Eris is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, slightly smaller by volume than the dwarf planet Pluto, although it is 27 percent more massive. Discovered in January 2005 by a team based at Palomar Observatory, it was named after Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord. The ninth-most-massive object directly orbiting the Sun, Eris is the largest object in the Solar System that has not been visited by a spacecraft. It is a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk and has one known moon, Dysnomia. It is about 96 astronomical units (14.4 billion kilometres; 8.9 billion miles) from the Sun, roughly three times as far away as Pluto. Except for some long-period comets, Eris and Dysnomia were the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System until 2018 VG18 was discovered in 2018. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that its diameter was 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445.3 ± 7.5 mi).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_%28dwarf_planet%29

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1818:

French physicist Augustin Fresnel submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, which provided strong support for the wave theory of light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel

1900:

Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in Monza. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Bresci

1950:

Korean War: U.S. forces concluded a four-day massacre of hundreds of civilians through shootings and air attacks near the village of Nogeun-ri, sparked by fears that North Korean soldiers were infiltrating refugee columns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Gun_Ri_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

smocking: (sewing) An embroidery technique in which the fabric is gathered and then embroidered with decorative stitches to hold the gathers in place; the product of the use of this embroidery technique. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smocking

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you.   --Don Marquis https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Don_Marquis