Eris -- Pluto's Faraway Twin -- is Accurately Sized Up
Astronomers have accurately measured the diameter of the faraway dwarf planet Eris for the first time by catching it as it passed in front of a faint star. The observations show that Eris is an almost perfect twin of Pluto in size. Eris appears to have a very reflective surface, suggesting that it is uniformly covered in a thin layer of ice, probably a frozen atmosphere.
Comments:
Hope Eris is as happy with the dwarf classification as Pluto seems to be. 8)
"The surface of Eris was found to be extremely reflective, reflecting 96 percent of the light that falls on it."<br><br>So as reflective an enhanced aluminum coatings on a mirror? No way. An albedo of 96% is close to a fully white surface (albedo 100%), as it is a ratio of reflected radiation (assuming visual wavelengths) from the surface to incident radiation upon it (and in this case Eris may mimic a Lambertain surface to some degree with some light scattering). Still an albedo of 96% is very impressive, as the dwarf planet is almost perfectly white.
My exact thoughts after reading the article. The thing is practically a mirror.
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