Dwarf Planet

Haumea

Laiza Mae C. Fraquiles

Our Solar System
Our Solar System
 Dwarf Planet
• A celestial body that

– Orbits around the Sun.

– Is not a satellite.
– Has sufficient mass for a self-
gravity to overcome rigid body
forces so that it assumes a nearly
round shape.
– And has not cleared its
neighborhood around its orbit.
Planets Dwarf Planets
 Orbits the sun directly  Orbits the sun directly
 Massive enough to be  Massive enough to be

rounded by its own gravity rounded by its own gravity

 Has cleared the smaller  Has NOT cleared the smaller

bodies from its orbit bodies from its orbit

 Larger than dwarf planets  Smaller than planets
 Dwarf Planet: Haumea
Dwarf planet: Haumea is the
first official dwarf planet found to
host a ring system, and only the third
body smaller than Neptune known to
have rings. The discovery also marks
the first time anyone has found rings
around an object in the Kuiper belt, a
region of icy bodies out beyond the
orbit of Neptune.
Namesake

Haumea is named after the

Hawaiian goddess of fertility.
 Discovery
Two teams claim credits for discovering 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 March 07, 2003.
Everything we know about Haumea is from observations
with ground-based telescopes from around the world.
The discoverers are: Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo,
David L. Rabinowitz, and Jose Luis Ortiz Moreno.

2005: Haumea’s moons are discovered.

2008: Haumea is recognized as a dwarf planet by the
IAU and named Haumea .
 Location
Originally designated 2003 EL61 (and nicknamed
Santa by one discovery team), Haumea is located in the
Kuiper Belt, a donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond
the orbit of Neptune.
Composition and Surface
Unlike most objects in the
Kuiper Belt, Haumea is not an equal
mixture of ice and rock but likely has
a thin water ice crust covering a rocky
interior. Haumea also appears to have
a dark red spot on its surface that
may contain more minerals and
organic compounds than ice around
it.
 Atmosphere
Haumea has no atmosphere
because its gravity can’t hold on to an
atmosphere. However, Haumea’s
climate is very cold because it is very
far from the sun. The average surface
temperature is thought to be around
-240 degree Celsius.
 Size and Distance
With a radius of about 385 miles (620
kilometers), Haumea is about 1/14 the radius pf
the Earth. From an average distance of
4,010,000,000 miles (6,452,000,000
kilometers), Haumea is 43 astronomical units
away from the sun. From the distance of Sun to
earth, it takes 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. The fast
spin distorts Haumea’s shape, making
it look like a football. It spins on its
axis.
 Moons
Haumea has two known moons:
Namaka is the inner moon, and
Hi’iaka is the outer moon. Both are
named for the mythological
daughters of Haumea.
 Formation
Haumea is a member of a group
of objects that orbit in a disc-like
zone beyond the orbit of Neptune
called Kuiper Belt. This distant realm
is populated with thousands of
miniature icy worlds which formed
early in a history of our solar system
about 4.5 billion years ago. These icy,
rocky bodies are called Kuiper Belt
objects, transneptunian objects, or
plutoids.
 Rings
Haumea is the first known
Kuiper Belt Object to have rings.
Scientists announced the discovery in
2017 after watching the dwarf planet
pass in front of a star.
 Structure and Shape
Astronomers believe Haumea is
made of rock with a coating of ice.
Haumea is an oval shaped or
spheroid because it rotates so fast. It
is gone from a spherical shape into
more of an egg shape. Astronomers
think this is because of a collision
millions of years earlier.
 Potential for Life
Haumea is extremely cold and
doesn’t appear to have conditions
suitable for life.
 References
Retrieved from Solarsystem.nasa.gov.
Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com
Retrieved from https://www.space.com
Retrieved from https://www.odysseymagazine.com