Dwarf planet · Kuiper Belt
Eris
The One That Changed the Rules
Eris: about Pluto's size but heavier, whose discovery in 2005 forced astronomers to define the word 'planet'.
What the song is built on
- About Pluto's size but heavier
- Finding it in 2005 forced the world to define the word 'planet'
- Its year lasts about 558 of ours
- Named for the goddess of discord, which fits what it caused
Established astronomy. The music is an interpretation of it — see the curatorial policy.
SoundDramatic dark orchestral, discordant strings resolving late, low brass stabs, operatic female vocal, 88 BPM, defiant and cold
Lyrics
[Intro]
They named me for discord
After what I caused
[Verse 1]
Two thousand five, a point of light
Three times farther out than Pluto goes
And when they weighed me, the answer came back heavy
Heavier than the ninth, and everybody knows
What happens next: you either call me ten
Or you take the word apart
They took the word apart, and Pluto fell
And I became the reason, and the heart
[Chorus]
I am the one that changed the rules
Not by breaking anything, just by being there
To count me in, they had to count a dozen more
So they drew a line instead, and left us out there
[Verse 2]
Five hundred fifty-eight years to circle once
So far the Sun is just a brighter star
Minus two thirty on my surface
Methane frost on everything I am
Dysnomia turns around me, my one moon
Named for the daughter of strife
Out past the belt, out past the maps
A whole existence, a distant life
[Bridge]
They say I demoted Pluto
I only stood where I was born
The sky was always bigger than the story
Somebody had to prove it, and be scorned
[Final Chorus]
I am the one that changed the rules
Not by breaking anything, just by being there
To count me in, they had to count a dozen more
So they drew a line instead, and left us out there
[Outro]
Discord. That was the name they chose.
I just kept my orbit.
Solar System — 2026 Founding Edition — one of 30 songs.