MOST Mysterious Space Planet Discoveries

The Unseen World Existing Beyond Pluto | Beyond Pluto dwarf planet

Definition:

According to the definition adopted by the IAU in 2006, a dwarf planet is, “a celestial body orbiting a star that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity but has not cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite. More explicitly, it has to have sufficient mass to overcome its compressive strength and achieve hydrostatic equilibrium.”

When the decision was made to demote Pluto from being considered a proper planet. It seemed like quite a major step to take in reality though it was because astronomers were only beginning to understand the objects that existed in the Kuiper belt at the edge of the solar system and it became clear that Pluto was just the first one of these to have been discovered there are far more mysterious objects in that region of space. 

Though one of which is called Homea. Which comes from the Hawaiian culture. It's an oval-shaped dwarf planet. Its Third dwarf from the Sun. It's about a tenth the size of earth with a diameter of 385 miles and has two moons of its own interestingly Namaka and Hi’iaka. Namaka is smaller and Hi’iaka is larger. A day on Haumea lasts for just four earth hours which makes it one of the fastest spinning objects in the whole of the solar system. 

It's about 43 times the distance from the sun as earth is. Which means it takes light more than six hours to reach.

It takes 285 earth years to complete one rotation around the sun but what's not clear is how it formed in the first place and why it's such an unusual shape.

Normally objects that form when material combines together will become spherical and it's very rare for something to spin as fast as Haumea does it's therefore thought that it was subjected to a large collision at some point in history one that changed its shape and speed forever. 

Facts about Haumea:

Originally designated 2003 EL61 (and nicknamed Santa by one discovery team), Haumea resides in the Kuiper belt and is roughly the same size as Pluto.

Discovery

Two teams claim credit for discovering of 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 Mar. 7, 2003, but no official discoverer is listed.

Haumea was named after the Hawaiian goddess of fertility.

Funny But Informative Video on Haumea:

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If Haumea is anything to go by the other objects in the Kuiper belt are likely to be just as strange which makes it one of the last uncharted regions still to explore in our nearby stellar neighborhood.