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Haumea, officially designated as 136108 Haumea is the third dwarf planet from the sun. It is known for its strange shape, because it spins so fast on its axis that it flattens out into an ellipsoid shape. It was discovered on December 28, 2004. It has two known moons called Hi'iaka and Namaka. It has a diameter of 1,632 km.

Discovery

The discovery of Haumea is controversial. Two teams lay claim to the discovery: Michael Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz's team at Caltech, and Jose Luis Ortiz Moreno's team at a Spanish Observatory. The name Haumea was proposed by Brown's team, Ortiz's team proposed the name "Ataecina." Precovery images have been dated to March 22, 1955.

Name

Brown's team nicknamed it "Santa" when they found it because it was around Christmas time. Its provisional designation, 2003 El61, was given on July 29, 2005. Its number, 136108, was given on September 7, 2006. The name Haumea is the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility.

Physical characteristics

Haumea is oval shaped, and the only dwarf planet that is not a spheroid, but a Jacobi Ellipsoid. Such an oval shape sparks controversy on its current status as a dwarf planet, but the IAU has not made any demotions yet.

Haumea is mainly rocky, with a thin coating of ice. It has a large spot that is red in color, It is maybe because that area is covered in tholins.

Rotation

Haumea rotates extremely fast; it's day is only 3.9 hours long. This is why it is so oval-shaped; it stretches itself out.

Ring

Main article: Rings of Haumea

A stellar occultation observed on 21 January 2017 and described in an 11 October 2017 ''Nature'' article indicated the presence of a ring around Haumea. This represents the first ring system discovered for a TNO. The ring has a radius of about 2,287 km, a width of ~70 km and an opacity of 0.5. It is well within Haumea's Roche limit, which would be at a radius of about 4,400 km if it were spherical (being non-spherical pushes the limit out farther). The ring plane approximately coincides with Haumea’s equatorial plane and the orbital plane of its larger, outer moon Hi’iaka. The ring is also close to the 3:1 resonance with Haumea's rotation (which is at a radius of 2,285 ± 8 km). The ring contributes around 5% to the total brightness of Haumea.

Collisional family

Main article: Haumea Family

The Haumea Family is the only collisional family in the Kuiper Belt. It most likely formed from a collision (probably the same one that gave the dwarf its oblateness, moons, and rings) with another body. The family itself is composed of small (and large) bodies (called Haumeids). These bodies share multiple characteristics with Haumea, including composition, albedo, specta, and others.

Moons

Haumea has 2 known moons.

Namaka Celestia

Namaka.

Namaka

Main Article: Namaka

Namaka is the smaller, inner moon of the dwarf planet Haumea. It is named after Namaka, the goddess of the sea in Hawaiian mythology and one of the daughters of Haumea.

Artist%u2019s impression of Hiʻiaka

Hi’aka.

Hi'iaka

Main Article: Hi’iaka

Hiʻiaka is the larger, outer moon of the dwarf planet Haumea.

Gallery/Images

Dwarf Planets, Dwarf Planet Candidates and large Trans-Neptunian Objects
Consensus CeresOrcusPlutoHaumeaMakemakeQuaoarErisGonggongSedna
Candidate D > 300 km or
H <6.0
Asteroids
Centaurs
Plutinos
HuyaIxionLempo1993 SC1998 VG₄₄2000 GP₁₈₃2001 QF₂₉₈2001 XD₂₅₅ • • 2002 VR₁₂₈ • • 2002 XV₉₃2003 AZ₈₄2003 QX₁₁₁2003 UZ₄₁₃2003 VS₂2005 GW₁₈₆2007 JF₄₃2007 JH₄₃2007 JF₄₅2010 EL₁₃₉2011 UT₄₁₀2011 VJ₂₄2013 CD₂₂₃2013 HU₁₅₆2013 PX₇₄2014 DR₁₄₃2014 JP₈₀2014 JR₈₀2014 MH₇₀2014 WQ₅₀₉2014 WQ₅₁₀2017 OF₆₉
Twotinos
2000 QL₂₅₁2001 KA₇₇2001 UP₁₈2002 WC₁₉2003 UY₄₁₃2005 CA₇₉2005 RS₄₃2007 JJ₄₃2007 PS₄₅2010 EP₆₅2010 RO₆₄2012 JH₆₇2012 VB₁₁₆2013 FZ₂₇2013 HV₁₅₆2013 UK₁₅2014 AM₅₅2014 DO₁₄₃2014 JS₈₀2014 QS₄₄₁2014 RL₇₄2014 WT₆₉2014 XY₄₀2015 BE₅₁₉2021 LN₄₃
Cubewanos
AltjiraChaos420356 PraamziusSalaciaVardaVaruna1998 SN₁₆₅1999 CL₁₁₉2000 AF₂₅₅2000 CO₁₀₅2001 CZ₃₁2001 QS₂₉₇2001 QU₂₉₇2001 QT₃₂₂2002 AW₁₉₇2002 CX₂₂₄2002 CY₂₄₈2002 KW₁₄2002 KX₁₄2002 MS₄2002 PQ₁₄₅2002 UX₂₅2002 VT₁₃₀2002 XE₉₁2003 HC₅₇2003 QW₉₀2003 UB₂₉₂2003 WQ₁₈₈2004 DH₆₄2004 GV₉2004 NT₃₃2004 PV₁₀₇2004 PF₁₁₅2004 TY₃₆₄2004 UX₁₀2005 LB₅₄2005 RN₄₃2005 UQ₅₁₃2007 XV₅₀2008 AP₁₂₉2008 NW₄2008 SP₂₆₆2009 YR₂₆2010 AH₂2010 FX₈₆2010 JK₁₂₄2010 PK₆₆2010 RN₆₄2010 RD₁₈₈2010 RF₁₈₈2010 SS₄₃2010 VQ₁₁2010 VR₁₁2010 WN₇₅2011 JF₃₁2011 LP₂₉2011 OA₆₀2012 BW₁₅₄2012 VR₁₂₈2013 FC₂₈2013 JW₆₃2013 MA₁₂2013 RV₁₂₄2013 XB₂₆2014 BV₆₄2014 BX₆₄2014 CQ₂₃2014 DE₁₄₃2014 DF₁₄₃2014 DM₁₄₃2014 DN₁₄₃2014 EA₅₂2014 FU₇₁2014 FW₇₁2014 GT₅₃2014 GW₅₃2014 JC₉₂2014 KW₁₀₁2014 LR₂₈2014 LT₂₈2014 MY₆₉2014 NB₆₆2014 OD₃₉₄2014 OE₃₉₄2014 QX₄₄₁2014 TC₈₆2014 TD₈₆2014 UP₂₂₄2014 UQ₂₂₄2014 US₂₂₄2014 VU₃₇2014 WH₅₀₉2014 WJ₅₀₉2014 WP₅₀₉2014 WU₅₀₉2014 WZ₅₀₉2014 WA₅₁₀2014 WL₆₁₆2014 YZ₄₉2014 YA₅₀2014 YB₅₀2015 AN₂₈₁2015 BQ₅₁₈2015 BT₅₁₈2015 BV₅₁₈2015 BZ₅₁₈2015 FL₃₄₅2015 OV₇₉2015 PY₃₃₀2016 FP₅₉2016 FK₁₆₄2016 LX₈₉2016 PO₂₉₆2017 OG₆₉ 2021 CJ₄₆2021 DS₁₅
Other KBOs
1999 CC₁₅₈1999 CD₁₅₈2001 YH₁₄₀2002 GD₃₂2002 GJ₃₂2002 XW₉₃2003 UX₂₉₂2003 YO₁₇₉2008 QB₄₃2010 HE₇₉2010 MQ₁₁₆2010 OO₁₂₇2010 TY₅₃2010 VK₂₀₁2010 VL₂₀₁2010 VV₂₂₄2010 VW₂₂₄2011 FW₆₂2011 GM₂₇2011 GZ₆₁2012 HG₈₄2013 EJ₁₅₄2013 RM₉₈2013 XC₂₆2014 BZ₅₇2014 CO₂₃2014 DK₁₄₃2014 FT₇₁2014 FY₇₁2014 GU₅₃2014 GX₅₃2014 HZ₁₉₉2014 LO₂₈2014 JJ₈₀2014 MA₇₀2014 QW₄₄₁2014 QY₄₄₁2014 QA₄₄₂2014 SH₃₄₉2014 TZ₈₅2014 UM₃₃2014 UO₂₂₄2014 WG₅₀₉2014 WW₅₀₉2014 WY₅₀₉2014 XR₄₀2014 XS₄₀2015 AH₂₈₁2015 AQ₂₉₃2015 BX₅₁₈2015 DZ₂₅₀2015 FG₃₄₅
Damocloids
2003 HN₅₇2003 UA₂₉₂
SDOs
Gǃkúnǁ`hòmdímàDziewanna1996 GQ₂₁1996 TL₆₆1999 DE₉1999 KR₁₆2000 CQ₁₀₅2000 OM₆₇2000 PE₃₀2000 YW₁₃₄2001 FZ₁₇₃2001 KC₇₇2001 QX₃₂₂2001 UR₁₆₃2002 PJ₁₄₉2002 TC₃₀₂2003 UY₁₁₇2003 UA₄₁₄2004 OJ₁₄2004 PG₁₁₅2004 XA₁₉₂2005 QU₁₈₂2005 RM₄₃2005 SD₂₇₈2006 QH₁₈₁2007 OC₁₀2007 TG₄₂₂2008 OG₁₉2008 QY₄₀2010 ER₆₅2010 ET₆₅2010 JO₁₇₉2010 KZ₃₉2010 OE₁₅₃2010 PT₆₆2010 PU₇₅2010 QQ₇2010 RF₄₃2010 RE₆₄2010 TJ2010 VW₁₁2010 VZ₉₈2011 HP₈₃2011 WJ₁₅₇2012 AZ₂₅2013 AP₁₈₃2013 AT₁₈₃2013 FY₂₇2013 FS₂₈2013 JH₆₄2013 PV₇₄2013 SR₁₀₂2013 SF₁₀₆2013 YJ₁₅₁2014 AN₅₅2014 EZ₅₁2014 FC₆₉2014 FJ₇₂2014 HA₂₀₀2014 HF₂₀₀2014 JU₈₀2014 JW₈₀2014 LV₂₈2014 OJ₃₉₄2014 SV₃₄₉2014 UR₂₂₄2014 UZ₂₂₄2014 UN₂₂₅2014 WD₅₁₀2014 WS₅₁₀2014 XV₄₀2014 YE₅₀2014 YF₅₀2014 YK₅₀2014 YC₉₂2015 AM₂₈₁2015 BD₅₁₉2015 BP₅₁₉2015 DU₂₄₉2015 KH₁₆₂2015 KF₁₇₂2015 MQ₂₀₄2015 RR₂₄₅2015 VO₁₆₆2015 VG₁₆₈2015 VJ₁₆₈2016 FX₅₈2017 FO₁₆₁2017 OK₆₉2017 SN₁₃₂2018 AG₃₇2018 VG₁₈2020 BE₁₀₂2020 FY₃₀2020 FA₃₁2020 FB₃₁2021 CK₄₆2021 DP₁₅2021 DR₁₅2021 DG₁₇2021 LL₃₇2022 QF₂₆₁2023 FS₅₄
Detached
Alicanto 2000 CR₁₀₅2003 FY₁₂₈2003 HL₅₇2003 QX₁₁₃2004 XR₁₉₀2005 TB₁₉₀2008 ST₂₉₁2010 DN₉₃2014 FC₇₂2014 JM₈₀2014 ST₃₇₃2014 US₂₇₇2020 MK₅₃
Sednoids
2012 VP₁₁₃
Navbox Note
This navbox contains all consensus dwarf planet candidates and also contains all objects with potential of candidacy, even if not all groups agree.
Bolded items are major, relatively well known objects or consensus dwarf planets.
136108 Haumea
Moons and Rings Hi'iakaNamakaRings
Collisional Group (19308) 1996 TO₆₆(24835) 1995 SM₅₅(55636) 2002 TX₃₀₀(86047) 1999 OY₃(120178) 2003 OP₃₂(145453) 2005 RR₄₃(308193) 2005 CB₇₉(386723) 2009 YE₇(416400) 2003 UZ₁₁₇(612620) 2003 SQ₃₁₇
The Planets and Dwarf Planets
Planets
Inner: (MercuryVenusEarthMars) Outer: (JupiterSaturnUranusNeptune)
Dwarf Planets (and candidates)
CeresPlutoHaumeaMakemakeQuaoarOrcusErisGonggongSedna