^ Haumea (named for a Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility) was actually discovered in late 2004, and was designated 2003 EL61 (nicknamed "Santa"). The above image is an illustration of what Haumea might look like; no pictures have yet been taken of the planet, as its average distance from the sun is fifty times greater than that of Earth. The most striking feature of Haumea is its unusual oblong, cigar-like shape. This shape may be a result of its fast rotation, as it rotates once every four hours or so, tumbling end over end as opposed to spinning like a top.
The two moons of Haumea are named Hi'iaka and Namaka, for daughters of the goddess Haumea.
^ Haumea is the fifth object in the solar system to be officially designated as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (after Ceres, Pluto, Eris, and Makemake). Personally, I'm hoping Orcus will eventually make the cut.
^ This diagram shows Haumea's orbital path. The gray circle in the center is the orbit of Neptune. The red circle is Pluto's path, while Haumea is in yellow (the Q's are the points of aphelion, when the planets are farthest from the sun). To see where Haumea is RIGHT NOW, check out this orbital tracker from NASA (give it some time to load up).With all of these "dwarf planets" and "plutoids" and new comets showing up, it seems that the solar system is much more crowded than we thought it was just a few short years ago. The idea of a hypothetical "Planet X" now seems quaint (although again, I'm still hoping). With new planets being constantly discovered both inside and outside the solar system, it's an exciting time in the field of astronomy!
1 comment:
Very exciting indeed! Thank you for the update. Starlady
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