Haumea

the strangest known object in the Kuiper belt





Haumea and Namaka are currently undergoing a series of mutual occultations and eclipses. Study of these events will allow us to study this system with unprecedented detail. Read about it HERE

2003 EL61 -- now known as Haumea -- is one of the strangest known objects in the solar system. It is a big across as Pluto, but shaped like a cigar. Or perhaps like a football [American-style]. Or, most accurately, a football that has too little air in it and has been stepped on. It spins end over end every 4 hours like a football that has been kicked. It appears to be made almost entirely of rock, but with a glaze of ice over the surface. It is surrounded by two tiny satellites (Hi'iaka and Namaka) and is followed in its orbit by a swarm of other small icy bodies. Everything that we know about this body appears to tell us that in its past another object slammed into it at high speed and cracked it into pieces which flew all around the outer solar system and left what we see today. Follow the story below....



Haunea looks and spins approximately like this:





What is Haumea?





How big is Haumea?

What is Haumea made out of?





The moons of Haumea









Why is Haumea spinning fast, shaped like a football, made out of ice-covered rock, and surrounded by tiny satellites?

The family of Haumea

When will Haumea get a real name like Eris and Sedna and Quaoar?