The only confirmed
natural satellite orbiting Eris is small without the mass
necessary
to assume a spherical shape:
Dysnomia
[1] was
discovered by Mike Brown and the Adaptive Optics
team at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii on September 10, 2005. It was
named after the demon of lawlessness, daughter of the Greek goddess
Eris and is estimated to be between 50
and 150 km in diameter. Its physical composition and its atmosphere if
any are unknowns, though it's
possible that the moon formed
from the coalescing of impactor debris
the result of another large body striking its primary (impacts
between large KBOs are suspected to have been fairly frequent during
the solar
system's early history). [2]
[1] Originaly
nicknamed Gabrielle (the television sidekick of Xena)
because of its affiliation with Eris.
[2] Both Eris and Dysnomia represent chaos, fitting when one
considers the role they played in redefining the old familiar nine
planet Solar System, after all
Eris was larger than Pluto and Pluto
was a planet. [3]
[3] Actually
it is currently unknown whether Eris or Pluto is the larger, new
estimates place both at approximately 2,320 km in diameter.
