Saturday, April 22, 2023

3969 - DWARF PLANET - Haumea

 

-   3969 -    DWARF  PLANET   -  Haumea.     Haumea is a “dwarf planet” that was first spotted by astronomers looking at observations made between 2003 and 2004, earning it the name “2003 EL61”.


------------------------  3969  -  DWARF  PLANET   -  Haumea

-    Until 2008, it was classified as a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO),  a reclassification by the International Astronomical Union deemed it a dwarf planet, joining, Pluto, Eris, and Makemake in the Kuiper Belt and Ceres in the asteroid belt.

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-   Located in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, this frigid dwarf planet reaches both opposition (the point directly opposite the sun from the perspective of Earth) and perigee (the point in its orbit closest to Earth) tonight. It visible in the night sky in the constellation Boötes.

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 -    At that time, it was given the name Haumea after the Hawaiian goddess of fertility.  The dwarf planet, which is roughly the size of Pluto, takes about 285 years to orbit the sun, and its distance from Earth varies from 34 to 51 astronomical units, or AU (one AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun). As it's reaching perigee, that puts it at a distance of 34 AU.

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-    Haumea spins so fast that its shape is more football-like than round. Though its orbit might be quite slow, Haumea rotates extremely fast.   It takes just four hours to complete one rotation. Because of the centrifugal force it experiences due to this rotational speed, Haumea is stretched out like a football instead of round like most other planets and dwarf planets.

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-     Haumea is also the only known dwarf planet to have rings, and it also has two small moons, Namaka and Hi'iaka, which are the daughters of Haumea in Hawaiian mythology.

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-    Haumea, together with Pluto, Makemake, and Eris, lies in the Kuiper belt. This area is like the bigger asteroid belt, located beyond Neptune’s orbit. The other known planet, Ceres, is located in the main asteroid belt.

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-    The ellipsoid shape of Haumea is believed to be the result of its rapid rotation. Think of the way a water balloon stretches out when thrown with a spin. This rotational speed, along with its collisional origin makes Haumea one of the densest dwarf planets discovered to date.

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-  It has two small satellites (moons) called Hi’iaka & Namaka. These were discovered in 2005 using the W.M. Keck Observatory.

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-    Haumea’s moons are thought to be the result of a collision with a large object billions of years ago. This event caused pieces of Haumea to fragment and begin orbiting the planet.

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-   A ring around Haumea was discovered in 2017. This was the first ring system ever discovered beyond Neptune‘s orbit.

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-    One day on Haumea lasts only 3.9 Earth hours. With that, it is one of the fastest rotating large objects in the solar system.

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-   Haumea is made of rock with a thick coating of ice. It has a high albedo because of crystalline water ice on its surface. In fact, it is believed to be as bright as snow!

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-   According to estimates, Haumea is the third-largest known trans-Neptunian object (TNO). The first two are Pluto and Eris. It has one-third of Pluto’s mass and 1/1400 that of Earth.

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-    Haumea is the third brightest object in the Kuiper belt. That is, after the dwarf planets Pluto and Makemake. On a clear night with a good quality telescope, this makes it possible to see Haumea in the night sky,

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                   April 21, 2023               DWARF  PLANET   -  Haumea             3969                                                                                                                          

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--------------------- ---  Saturday, April 22, 2023  ---------------------------

 

 

 

 

         

 

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