Haumea

Page editors- Kristina Clark Fall 2011 Nicholas Pollmeyer Fall 2016

Haumea has been classified as a dwarf planet as of September of 2008. It is now known to be the fifth planet in the Kuiper Belt. Haumea is farther out than Pluto and thus being much colder because of the distance between our sun and Haumea. It takes Haumea nearly 285 years to orbit the sun just once. Until Haumea was given a permanent name, it was called "Santa" due to the discovery in late December of 2004. The following links are a good guide to any other information about Haumea you would like to explore. [|Windows To The Universe] by Randy Russell

Deep in the Kuiper Belt, an icy region beyond the planets where is where Haumea makes its home. This dwarf planet is smaller than both Pluto and Eris and has the shape of a football. Yet, Haumea is just as wide across as Pluto. "Astronomers began paying attention to it when they noticed an object that got brighter and dimmer every few hours, which seemed to indicate a seriously fast rate of spin — so fast that a round planet like Pluto would be ripped apart by gravity." Haumea is not a sphere, it spins so fast that it has been stretched into an ellipsoid. Spinning on its axis once every four hours, Haumea is known as the fastest spinning found object in the solar system. The rapid spin allows scientists to calculate its density, as it is thought to be made up of entirely rock with a thin icy shell.

If you would like to know more information about Haumea in the Kuiper Belt or the Kuiper Belt, check out the two sites that follow. [|Kuiper Belt] by David Jewitt and [|Solar System Exploration] by NASA Official: Kristen Erickson, Editor: Phil Davis, Science Writer: Samantha Harvey, and Webmaster: David Martin

Haumea is a goddess of fertility, childbirth, magic and of the moon. She is the mother of Namaka and Hi'iaka. Haumea is the mother not only of man, but also of all living creatures who scamper, slither, swim or fly, and to all manner of plants that grow, blossom and flower beneath the sun. Haumea was sometimes identified with the earth goddess Papa: she was ‘the prolific one’, and ‘the woman from a distant land’, who gave birth to ‘strange noisy creatures’. She would eat coconuts and Uluhua plants to ease the pain of child birth. Loved by all she is the mother of Earth and Sky. Thus, Haumea the dwarf planet's name was suggested by Michael Brown and her two orbiting moons are Namaka and Hi'iaka. The first moon and the largest is Hi'iaka, after the Hawaiian goddess who is said to have been born from the mouth of Haumea. The second moon of Haumea is named Namaka, a water Spirit who is said to have been born from Haumea's body. She is to believed to be killed by a trickster god by the name of Kaulu. In Hawaiian mythology, Kaulu killled Haumea with a net at Niuhelewai. More Information about the goddess named Haumea or to reference the information found, please look to the following sites listed: [|Windows To The Universe: Hawaiian Goddess] by Randy Russell and [|Hawaiian Mythology]by Martha Beckwith. You can find the picture off to the right of the goddess is at [|Angel Wisdom] by Sharon Taphorn.

There has not been a space prob to travel to the dwarf planet Haumea and there is no current missions planed either. There is not much more known of this strange shaped planet, yet interesting. The planet has many small planetoids that orbit its path. It is one theory that Haumea had some kind of collision that the smaller pieces that orbit in the neighborhood are bits and pieces of the planet itself. To find out more information and explore you can look at [|Wikipedia: Haumea] the author is unknown or [|Skyandtelescope.com]by Kelly Beatty.