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WASHINGTON \u2014 Haumea, one of the solar system\u2019s least familiar dwarf planets, is attracting renewed attention as astronomers examine a world so unusual that it barely resembles the spherical planets seen in textbooks. Located in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, Haumea is not the cracked, glowing object portrayed in the accompanying viral thumbnail; that image is an artistic fabrication rather than a newly released NASA photograph.<\/p>\n
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In fact, Haumea is so small and distant that even powerful telescopes generally record it as a point of light rather than a detailed globe. Astronomers reconstruct its appearance using changes in brightness, measurements of reflected light, thermal data, and stellar occultations\u2014events in which the dwarf planet passes in front of a distant star. Those observations indicate that Haumea has an elongated shape often compared to a football or flattened egg. The reason is its extraordinary rotation: Haumea completes one spin in approximately four hours, making it one of the fastest-rotating large objects known in the solar system. The resulting centrifugal force stretches the body along its equator, producing dimensions dramatically different from those of a conventional sphere.<\/p>\n
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Scientists believe an enormous collision billions of years ago may have accelerated this rotation, created Haumea\u2019s two moons, Hi\u02bbiaka and Namaka, and blasted icy fragments into related orbits around the Sun. Its surface appears unusually bright and is dominated by crystalline water ice, a surprising material because radiation should gradually damage and darken exposed ice over time. The continued presence of crystalline ice may indicate that the surface has been renewed, although astronomers have not established whether that renewal comes from impacts, internal heating, or another process.<\/p>\n
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Some observations have also suggested a darker, reddish region that could contain radiation-processed minerals or complex organic compounds, but current telescopes cannot photograph it as the enormous molten scar shown online. Haumea became even stranger in 2017 when a stellar occultation revealed that it possesses a ring, making it the first Kuiper Belt object known to have one. The ring may consist of debris created by an ancient collision, and its position appears connected to Haumea\u2019s rapid rotation and the orbital resonance of its moon Hi\u02bbiaka.<\/p>\n