HOME | DD

Description

Haumea, minor-planet designation 136108 Haumea, is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune 's orbit.[20] It was discovered in 2004 by a team headed by Mike Brown of Caltech at the Palomar Observatory in the United States and independently in 2005, by a team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, though the latter claim has been contested. On September 17, 2008, it was recognized as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and named after Haumea , the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth.
Haumea's mass is about one-third that of Pluto , and 1/1400 that of Earth. Although its shape has not been directly observed, calculations from its light curve indicate that it is a triaxial ellipsoid , with its major axis twice as long as its minor. Its gravity is thought to be sufficient for it to have relaxed into hydrostatic equilibrium , making it a dwarf planet. Haumea's elongated shape together with its rapid rotation, high density, and high albedo (from a surface of crystalline water ice), are thought to be the consequences of a giant collision , which left Haumea the largest member of a collisional family that includes several large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Haumea's two known moons, Hiʻiaka and Namaka .

Description

Haumea, minor-planet designation 136108 Haumea, is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune 's orbit.[20] It was discovered in 2004 by a team headed by Mike Brown of Caltech at the Palomar Observatory in the United States and independently in 2005, by a team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain, though the latter claim has been contested. On September 17, 2008, it was recognized as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and named after Haumea , the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth.
Haumea's mass is about one-third that of Pluto , and 1/1400 that of Earth. Although its shape has not been directly observed, calculations from its light curve indicate that it is a triaxial ellipsoid , with its major axis twice as long as its minor. Its gravity is thought to be sufficient for it to have relaxed into hydrostatic equilibrium , making it a dwarf planet. Haumea's elongated shape together with its rapid rotation, high density, and high albedo (from a surface of crystalline water ice), are thought to be the consequences of a giant collision , which left Haumea the largest member of a collisional family that includes several large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Haumea's two known moons, Hiʻiaka and Namaka .