New Planet Gets Hawaiian Name |
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Haumea
The Fifth Dwarf Planet Discovered
Haumea, is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, roughly one-third the mass of Pluto, discovered by Mike Brown's team at Caltech in the United States and J. L. Ortiz et al. of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía at Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain. On September 17, 2008, it was classified as a dwarf planet by the IAU and named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility.
Haumea is considered exceptional among the known classical Kuiper belt objects due to its extreme elongation; it is twice as long along its greatest equatorial diameter as it is wide at the poles. However, as its gravity is sufficient to maintain a rounded ellipsoidal shape, it meets the requirement for hydrostatic equilibrium used in the definition of dwarf planets. This elongation, along with Haumea's rapid rotation, two moons, high density, and high albedo due to crystalline water ice on the surface, are thought to be the results of a massive collision that left Haumea the largest member of a collisional family.
Haumea is officially classified as a dwarf planet. Its designation as a dwarf planet and its orbital location also means it is classified as a plutoid. Although it is not spherical, Haumea is considered a dwarf planet because it is in hydrostatic equilibrium: its ellipsoidal shape is due to its rapid rotation (in much the same way as a water balloon stretches out when tossed) and not due to insufficient self-gravity.
 Dwarf Planet Haumea and moons Hi`iaka and Namaka
Prior to being given the name Haumea, the dwarf planet was discoverd several years ago by Mike Brown's Team at Caltech who submitted formal names from Hawaiian mythology in September 2006 and both of its satellites in order "to pay homage to the place where the satellites were discovered".
The International Astronomical Union has given the solar system's newest discovered dwarf planet a Hawaiian name. Haumea, the Goddess of earth and fertility.
Located in the same category and region as Pluto. Haumea is shaped like an elongated egg and not of the typical Sphere & circumference. On September 17, 2008, the International Astronomical Union classified it a dwarf planet and announced that they had officially accepted the name "Haumea", after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility, proposed by David Rabinowitz of the Brown team. In addition they also accepted the names of the moons "Hi'iaka" and "Namaka", after two of Haumea's daughters.
The name was chosen in part to reflect the objects' manner of formation; according to myth, the children of Haumea sprang from different parts of her body. Similarly, moons of the dwarf planet Haumea are believed to have been broken off from its body by an ancient collision. The goddess Haumea was also a personification of stone, and her namesake is believed to be almost entirely of rock.
Resource: Wikipedia
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