From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_sc/dwarf_planet_5

Largest known dwarf planet named Eris
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer


LOS ANGELES - A distant, icy rock whose discovery shook up the solar
system and led to Pluto's planetary demise has been given a name:
Eris.

The christening of Eris, named after the Greek goddess of chaos and
strife, was announced by the International Astronomical Union on
Wednesday. Weeks earlier, the professional astronomers' group
stripped Pluto of its planethood under new controversial guidelines.

Since its discovery last year, Eris ignited a debate about what
constitutes a planet.

Astronomers were split over how to classify the object because there
was no universal definition. Some argued it should be welcomed as
the 10th planet since it was larger than Pluto, but others felt
Pluto was not a full-fledged planet.

After much bickering, astronomers last month voted to shrink the
solar system to eight planets, downgrading Pluto to a "dwarf
planet," a category that also includes Eris and the asteroid Ceres.

Eris' discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of
Technology, said the name was an obvious choice, calling it "too
perfect to resist."

In mythology, Eris caused a quarrel among goddesses that sparked the
Trojan War. In real life, Eris forced scientists to define a planet
that eventually led to Pluto getting the boot. Soon after Pluto's
dismissal from the planet club, hundreds of scientists circulated a
petition protesting the decision.

Eris' moon also received a formal name: Dysnomia, the daughter of
Eris known as the spirit of [b]lawless[/b]ness. :heh

Eris, which measures about 70 miles wider than Pluto, is the
farthest known object in the solar system at 9 billion miles away
from sun. It is also the third brightest object located in the
Kuiper belt, a disc of icy debris beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Eris had been without a formal name while astronomers grappled over
its status. Brown nicknamed it "Xena" after the fictional warrior
princess pending an official designation. He admits the new name
will take some getting used to.

"It's a little sad to see Xena go away," he said.