The Fastest moving object in our
Solar System.
By Jacob Koehler
The Fastest moving object in our
Solar System.
By Jacob Koehler
Haumea and it’s name
• Haumea’s name is derived from a
Hawaiian mythology goddess, as this
planet was discovered by a group of
Hawaiian Scientists. Haumea is the
goddess of childbirth, and had the god of
volcanoes.
Haumea’s position in our Solar
System
• Haumea resides in the Kuiper Belt, which
is 30 to 50 AUs away from the sun. An Au
stands for Astronomical unit which is an
equal length to 149,597,871 kilometers on
the Earth. So it’s anywhere from
424487936130 kilometers to 7479893550
kilometers away from the earth. You try
getting there in a space shuttle.
Rotation on Haumea’s axis
• Haumea’s days are only about a sixth of
ours. Their whole day is only 3 hours and
55 minutes. That’s pretty amazing!
Size of Haumea
Haumea is 4.2x1021 km in diameter. It’s only
28% the mass of Pluto, and 6% the mass
of the Earth’s moon. It’s super tiny.
Gravity, composition, and
appearance of Haumea.
• Unfortunately, since my planet is so new
and far away from Earth, We have not
been able to find out it’s gravity or
composition. :(
• Luckily, it’s appearance is extremely rocky,
and it has a thin layer of ice. The average
temperature of Haumea -241*C, and 402*F.
The moons of Haumea
• Haumea has two moons. (explained in the
next two slides) One is named Hi’iaka, and
the other Namaka. Scientists believe that
these moons were probably made by an
asteroid or meteor flying through space
struck Haumea, and the two rocks became
it’s moons.
Hi’iaka
Hi’iaka
•
•Originally named
Rudolph,
Originally named Rudolph, Hi’iaka
isHi’iaka is
mostly made up of
mostly made up of an icy water
surface,
an icy water
and is the slower on of the two.
It only
surface,
and is the
the
orbits Haumea every 49 days,slower
andon
is ofthe
two. It only orbits
larger and brighter moon.
Haumea every 49
days, and is the
larger and brighter
moon.
Namaka
• Originally named ‘Blitzen’, Namaka was is
the smaller and speeder than the other
one, and orbits Haumea every 18 days.
It’s very eccentric, like it’s planet.
Unfortunately,
We haven’t
•Originally
named ‘Blitzen’,
Namakaseen
was isenough
the smallerofand
speeder
than the
and orbits Haumea every 18
it to figure
outother
it’s one,
surface.
days. It’s very eccentric, like it’s planet. Unfortunately, We
haven’t seen enough of it to figure out it’s surface.
Rings and how we would fare on
Haumea
• Haumea has no rings, and we haven’t
actually ever traveled to Haumea, so I’m
not sure how we would fare. ):
Discovery of Haumea
• Haumea was originally supposed to be named
Santa, as it was discovered on December 28th,
2004. The main scientist of the group, Mike
Brown, was Really hoping to find the tenth
planet. Sadly, Haumea was significantly smaller
than Pluto. So he kept on the DL until it could
actually prove it was a planet, and get a closer
look at it. It was going to be announced on July
7th, 2005, but Mikes daughter was born, putting
that off for a couple of weeks.
Interesting facts about Haumea
• Haumea’s extreme speed makes it an
elongated shape, and it looks kind of like
an oval more than a sphere. Haumea also
has an obscure red spot on it, which is
interesting to watch spin. The spot could
be an indent, but scientist are not sure.