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E R I S : Part 4


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Locating Eris : 19th to 23rd Century

In the past few centuries, Eris was really a southern object, whose position around A.D. 1800 was within the southern constellation of Indus. Eris then crossed through Indus and into northern Tucanae until about 1817, before moving into southern Grus, where it stayed until the early 1840s. From then Eris moved into Phoenix around 1874, then onto Sculptor until 1930, and thence into the equatorial constellation of Cetus the Whale. Eris will remain within this same constellation between 2006 and 2015, and does not it until 19th February 2037 !

Into our future, Eris will gradually move into the zodiac constellation of Pisces where it will stay until the 20th May 2060 AD. It will cross back and forth between Cetus and Pisces several times for a decade or so, where it will move into the zodiacal constellation of Aries on 10 April 2065. Next, Eris will leave Aries and become a northern object within the non-zodiacal constellation of Perseus sometime in June 2127. After 2175 AD, Eris will become a far northern object, residing in Camelopardalis until the 23rd Century, when the declination reaches its maximum of around +64°N in 2200 AD.

It should be importantly noted that these positions and times remain tentative because the lack of historical positional data. So far the oldest identified position is from one plate made on 20th January 1963, meaning that we have orbital information based on just forty-five years (2008) or just 8% of the entire orbit.

All sky positions given below should be sufficiently accurate for most amateur purposes. However, beyond the next few decades, future ephemerides may change slightly with adjustments to the orbital elements. Perhaps the greatest difficulties are assessing the many perturbations caused by the gravitational pull of the other planets and planetary bodies in the Solar System. Better knowledge of these effects will likely be determined in the coming decades.

Telescopically, distant Eris only appears as a very faint star but remains invisible to all amateur telescopes. It is possible to record the faint body by amateur deep CCD images, though its detection likely requires a lengthy exposure of at least 20cm in aperture.


Brightness of Eris : A.D. 1800 to 2200

At times of perihelion (closest to the Sun) Eris can even outshine Pluto during its long orbit in through the depths of the Solar System, reaching the maximum visual magnitude of about 15.5. When the dwarf planet is furthest from the Sun (aphelion) this brightness may drop as low as 18.8 visual magnitude.

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Comparison of Eris and Pluto : 1800-2200
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     Mag.  Mag.   r    Delta Elong    L     b  
Min  18.8  16.0  97.6  98.5  178.8  360.0  40.9
Max  16.1  13.7  52.0  51.3  000.7    0.0 -44.6
Mean 18.2  15.3  84.7  84.7  089.3  129.8 -11.8
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Eris-Pluto Magnitude 1800-2200

Oppositions and Conjuctions (2008-2022)

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Opposition   Conjunction
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14 Oct 2008  10 Apr 2008
to
14 Oct 2012  10 Apr 2012
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and
15 Oct 2013  11 Apr 2013
to
15 Oct 2017  11 Apr 2017
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and
15 Oct 2018  11 Apr 2018
to
15 Oct 2022  11 Apr 2022
*************************


Disclaimer : The user applying this data for any purpose forgoes any liability against the author. None of the information should be used for either legal or medical purposes. Although the data is accurate as possible some errors might be present. Onus of its use is placed solely with the user.

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Last Update : 09th July 2012

Southern Astronomical Delights © (2012)

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