Located
in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune’s orbit, the
dwarf planet Haumea is an oval-shaped object
with a radius of about 385 miles (just under
10 times smaller than Earth), and two moons,
Namaka and Hi’iaka. A day on Haumea lasts only
four Earth hours, making it one of the fastest
rotating large objects in our solar system.
Originally
designated 2003 EL61 (and nicknamed Santa by
one discovery team), Haumea resides in the Kuiper
belt and is roughly the same size as Pluto.
Haumea is one of the fastest rotating large
objects in our solar system. Its fast spin distorts
Haumea's shape, making this dwarf planet look
like a football.
Discovery
Two teams claim credit for discovering of Haumea
citing evidence from observations made in 2003
and 2004. The International Astronomical Union’s
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature lists the
discovery location as Sierra Nevada Observatory
in Spain on Mar. 7, 2003, but no official discoverer
is listed.
Haumea
was named after the Hawaiian goddess of fertility.
Size
and Distance
With a radius of about 385 miles (620 kilometers),
Haumea is about 1/14 the radius of Earth. If
Earth were the size of a nickel, Haumea would
be about as big as a sesame seed.
From
an average distance of 4,010,000,000 miles (6,452,000,000
kilometers), Haumea is 43 astronomical units
away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated
as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth.
From this distance, it takes sunlight 6 hours
to travel from the Sun to Haumea.
Orbit
and Rotation
Haumea takes 285 Earth years to make one trip
around the Sun. As Haumea orbits the Sun, it
completes one rotation every 4 hours, making
it one of the fastest rotating large objects
in our solar system.
It
is possible a massive impact billions of years
ago set off Haumea's spin and created its moons.
Source
|
