Haumea
Haumea
Dwarf planet · 43.13 AU from the Sun
Haumea facts
- Type
- Dwarf planet
- Distance from the Sun
- 43.13 AU (6.45 × 10⁹ km)
- Orbital period (year)
- 283 Earth years
- Diameter
- 1,560 km
- Mass
- 4.01 × 10²¹ kg
- Moons
- 2
- Rotation period (day)
- 3.9 hours
- Mean temperature
- -241 °C
- Discovered
- 2004, by Caltech and OSN teams
Orbit
About Haumea
Haumea is a Kuiper Belt dwarf planet with a bizarre elongated, egg-like shape caused by its extremely fast spin, one of the quickest of any large body in the Solar System. It has two small moons and is the only known dwarf planet with a ring.
- Named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth
- Discovered: 2004, by Caltech and OSN teams
Haumea: frequently asked questions
- What is Haumea?
- Haumea is a dwarf planet in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun at an average distance of 43.13 AU (6.45 × 10⁹ km). Haumea is a Kuiper Belt dwarf planet with a bizarre elongated, egg-like shape caused by its extremely fast spin, one of the quickest of any large body in the Solar System.
- How far is Haumea from the Sun?
- Haumea orbits the Sun at an average distance of 43.13 AU, about 6.45 × 10⁹ km. One AU is the Earth-Sun distance, so Haumea is roughly 43.1 times Earth's distance from the Sun.
- How long is a year on Haumea?
- Haumea takes 283 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun, which is one Haumea year. By Kepler's third law, bodies farther from the Sun take longer to go around.
- How many moons does Haumea have?
- Haumea has 2 known moons.
- How big is Haumea?
- Haumea has a diameter of about 1,560 km and a mass of roughly 4.01 × 10²¹ kg.
- Why is Haumea a dwarf planet and not a planet?
- Haumea orbits the Sun and is round, but it has not cleared its orbital neighbourhood of other objects, the third rule the International Astronomical Union set in 2006. Bodies that meet the first two rules but not the third are called dwarf planets.
See Haumea in motion
Data from NASA/JPL and NSSDCA. Source.