Eris (2003 UB₃₁₃): The Light Bearer

Excerpts from an unpublished book

© Malvin Artley 2014

Eris (136199 minor planet designation) is a scattered disc object, thought possibly to have a resonance with Neptune, although this has not been wholly confirmed. She was discovered on 21 Oct 2003 when she was just over 5º south of the celestial equator in the constellation of Cetus (19í59Œ), and as she began to make her approach to the ecliptic. Her orbital period is roughly 560 years. Eris has the most extremely elliptical orbit of any of the known dwarf planets except for ‘Snow White’ – (225088) 2007 OR10. Eris is essentially the same size as Pluto, but she is more massive, meaning that she contains more rock that Pluto, the latter being icier. Eris has one moon, Dysnomia. The inclination of her orbit is also the most extreme of all the dwarf planets at almost 45° off the ecliptic. This means that for most of her orbit Eris transits outside of the zodiac, given her inclination. Knowing this fact, as we will see, Eris is the prime example of a dwarf planet that offers us new perspectives and which challenges our accepted ways of seeing astrology and ourselves. Eris is one of the little worlds that will begin to introduce a more spherical basis to astrology, a basis that the Chinese knew of in their ancient astrology, for they looked at the entire sky and not solely the planets and stars around the ecliptic…[Read more at Download button above]